I'm Listening
by brakken
Summary: Inuyasha and Kagome have been fighting so much Mrs. Higurashi decides to intervene: she gets a psychologist/couple's therapist friend of hers to give these too some much needed therapy and analysis. Will it help? Read to find out.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or any of the other characters, or the title of this story (although cookies to anyone who can guess where the title is from). So please don't sue me.

I'm Listening 

Ch. 1 Mrs. Higurashi has an idea

"That baka!"

SLAM

Mrs.Higurashi looked up, startled by the sudden noise. "Kagome, is something wrong?" she asked, concern evident in her voice and expression.

"Oh, mama!" Kagome exclaimed, equally surprised. She had thought herself alone in the house. Seeing her mother's worried face swamped her anger and frustration in guilt. "No, don't worry Mama, it's nothing."

"It didn't sound like nothing. What happened dear?" Mrs. Higurashi persisted.

"It really is nothing! I don't need to talk about it, I swear!." Kagome insisted, too embarrassed to explain her outburst.

Mrs. Higurashi frowned, her brows coming together over a pair of worried eyes. She was confused by her daughter's uncharacteristic reluctance to discuss her problems- but then realization dawned.

"Does this have something to do with Inuyasha-kun?" she asked softly.

"Oh, Mama!" Kagome wailed, unable to hold it in any longer. Her mother's kind tone had served as the last straw; the floodgates had opened full force. "I don't know what to do at all anymore! I, I, I love him but he makes it so hard!" It was a mark of how upset she was that she had let loose such a confession, even to her mother. Every other word was wrenched off by a body-wracking heave. Those first few words were soon proven the only coherent ones. But while they might have been gibberish, she still kept spluttering them out between the sobs for the next hour or so, twisting her loving mother's heart at the sight.

With much soothing Mrs. Higurashi managed to calm her daughter's tears and suggested a nice bath and sleep for further comfort. Kagome, eyes still puffy and red from her tears, hiccoughed a thank you and went upstairs almost immediately. She was asleep within the hour, exhausted by her own emotions.

Mrs. Higurashi sighed, rubbing her temples. This was the third time this month Kagome had come home in tears from some other pointless quarrel with that boy. Which was all the more significant as Kagome had only come home three times that month as her adventures in the Sengoku Jidai became longer and longer. However, in the past weeks Kagome had started coming home increasingly often, and it was because of her fights with Inuyasha-kun. Mrs. Higurashi did not blame the boy in the slightest; she could tell, even if Kagome couldn't, how much her daughter meant to him. The way he pined away while he waited for her to come home from school was testament (among countless other quirks) to his feelings. However, the two were obviously not getting along despite everything. It pained her to see the two bring so much hurt to one another when they so obviously cared so much for each other. If only there was some way for them to understand each other better and so be able to avoid their emotional fights. She was awakened from her absorbing thoughts by the insistent ring of the phone.

"Hello, this is Mrs. Higurashi, who am I speaking to?" She asked mechanically.

"What do you mean 'who am I speaking to'?!" her sister's voice teased. "I'm calling to ask you about what I'll need to bring when I come up to visit you all for the next week. We arranged this weeks ago- do you need your memory checked Onee-chan, or are you just suppressing something?"

Mrs.Higurashi laughed, but not at her sister's joke. She finally had an idea to help Kagome and Inuyasha-kun!

**A/N**: Now, the moment you've all been waiting for: Inuyasha and Kagome finally get some couple's therapy/psychological help! I couldn't help myself, it was too good of an idea to waste, and if anyone else has a different take on it, be my guest this idea could be interpreted so many delicious ways...I really hope you all like it, please please PLEASE REVIEW and tell me what you think of it!

Yes I know it's short, and I'm sorry but don't worry they'll get longer as I continue. I'll be updating soon enough- the next three chapters are only in desperate need of editing, so they won't take too long. And if anyone here does read my other fic, I'll be updating it soon enough as well, so no worries. I can't wait to hear what you think of this!


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N**: A little note before you start thinking I'm making up a word- Saikorojiss or Saikorojisstu is my spelling of Inuyasha's pronunciation of the word Psychologist.

* * *

Ch 2 Here's the scoop…but will she be able to help them? 

"You can't be serious. You just can't be. Here, let me check what medications you're on right now, you may have been misdiagnosed." Akiko said, a bit worried that her sister was under the influence of something. Or maybe she was just going crazy. Either way, she needed to help her sister before someone else heard her absurd story about time-traveling, demons and who knew what else.

"Yes, I am serious, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with my head!" Mrs. Higurashi huffed, a little upset that her own sister didn't believe her. They had all believed Kagome the first time she had told them! Of course, Inuyasha had been there at the time; it was hard to deny the story with the hanyou standing right there, as undeniable, living proof.

As if an answer to her thoughts, Inuyasha walked into the room just as Akiko opened her mouth, to make some more insinuations regarding the state of her sanity most likely.

"Hey, where's Kagome? Her room is empty- wait, she's not at that 'school' thing again is she?" he asked Mrs. Higurashi, oblivious to Akiko's presence. Finally noticing the guest, he looked around quickly for his hat to hide his ears, groaning inwardly. Kagome would kill him if she found this out. Mrs. Higurashi, seeing his distress, spoke quickly to calm him (and prove her story to her sister).

"Don't worry Inuyasha-kun, you can trust her, this is my sister and Kagome's aunt Akiko-chan, so don't bother with the hat. Oh, and Kagome was at school but she should be back any minute now-"

Mrs. Higurashi was cut off as Kagome walked in.

"Mama!" Kagome gasped, gesturing madly from Inuyasha's bare head to her aunt. How could that idiot forget to wear his hat?! For all she knew her aunt might cart him off to study him, or let him slip to some doctor friend who'd do the same- her aunt was devoted to her science after all.

"No, Kagome don't worry, I already told Akiko-chan all about him. Now why don't you two go talk in Kagome's room while I catch up with Akiko-chan? Dinner will be in an hour." Mrs. Higurashi added as they made their way upstairs.

Turning quickly to her sister with a look of triumph she whispered: "Now what exactly were you saying about my medications?"

Akiko sighed in defeat, though her eyes were sparkling, filled with wonder. "You were right; but to think that all of Dad's crazy stories were true…" she paused, lost in thought, before snapping back to reality suddenly. "Fine, I believe you, now what exactly did you want me to do with those two?" she asked, her eyes alight with the challenge before her.

"She's a saikorojiss?" He asked, confused.

"No, Akiko-chan is a psy-cho-lo-gist." Kagome enunciated carefully, not that it would make a difference. "You know," she started, and then stopped at his blank expression "Oh well I suppose you don't know…Well, what she does is she helps people with their mental and emotional problems. Like," she searched for some example he might understand, "if there was someone who was really, really, scared of spiders, so much that they couldn't see one without screaming or running away or something, she would help them deal with it, to make it less bad, so they could stay in the same room or whatever." she clumsily explained, hoping he would understand.

He didn't really, but he let it go anyway. It was irrelevant in the end, considering he probably wouldn't understand if she explained it a hundred times. However…He did not feel like arguing again, as he knew would happen if he continued their last conversation, and he didn't know what else to talk about, so…He decided to keep asking about her aunt; he was somewhat curious after all.

"So why is she here anyway?" A thought struck him suddenly. "You're not deathly afraid of spiders, are you?" he asked apprehensively. He had failed to protect her from this as well, so much that she had turned to this modern saikorojisstu for help? Guilt fell upon him like a heavy damp shroud, swamping him completely.

"Of course not silly! She's here to visit, not to work. We haven't seen her in ages!" Kagome laughed.

Inuyasha felt the tension and guilt leave him at once, as if it had never existed.

"Oh…" he responded, momentarily at a loss for words. "So, I guess you won't be coming home till she's left, huh?" he asked dejectedly, his heart sinking. He had missed her terribly as he always did, and now that he was sure that she was no longer angry with him, had had been eagerly thinking of her return. His disappointment hit him like a physical blow, and his attitude changed drastically.

"No, I don't suppose I can. She is my aunt after all-it would be very rude of me to leave just as she came." Kagome answered, a note of reluctance clear in her voice. But Inuyasha only heard her first word. It was all meaningless after that.

He responded harshly: "Keh. As if I care whether you come back or not. I'm only here because we need you to find jewel shards and the others can't come and get you themselves." He looked away from her as if already bored of the conversation, and of her.

"Well, is that so?! Then I guess I will stay here until Akiko-chan leaves, seeing as you don't care either way! That way you can go back and enjoy yourself for once without me around! Because even being near me is torture for you!" Kagome spat, livid at his words. He had not only set fire to her pride, but also hurt her heart.

Inuyasha, stunned and indignant at her anger, replied in turn. "Well fine! Stay here if you prefer it! See if I care! You really are a pain; I don't know how the others put up with you-!"

"Osuwari!"

"What the hell was that for?! I was telling the truth!"

"Osuwari, Osuwari, Osuwari!" Kagome yelled, running out of the room and slamming the door.

Inuyasha (who by some miracle hadn't crashed through the floor) simply lay on the carpet, twitching and cursing under his breath.

In the kitchen below, the two women finally looked away from the ceiling as the disturbance seemed to have finally abated. They locked gazes for a moment, Mrs. Higurashi's expression concerned, Akiko's intrigued and pensive.

"I think I see what you mean finally…" Akiko said slowly.

"Will you be able to help them?" Mrs. Higurashi asked softly, not daring to hope.

Akiko grinned, cracking her knuckles and answering slyly: "It would be my pleasure."

**A/N**: I almost feel bad for them…but not quite….hehehe they're in for someone brutally honest to finally tell them what idiots they're being…hope you liked it!


	3. Chapter 3

**Ch 3** Worries and Observations

"Kagome, Inuyasha-kun, dinner!" Mrs. Higurashi called.

A few moments later the two entered, although conspicuously separate despite coming from the same direction in almost the same moment. They barely even acknowledged each other, Inuyasha flicking his ear slightly while Kagome turned up her nose a bit. Such a lovely greeting.

Their mutual anger was palpable; Mrs. Higurashi sighed inwardly. She hoped that her sister knew what she was doing. Kagome was difficult enough to be around when she was angry at Inuyasha without his presence. She fervently prayed that Akiko-chan would merely observe and wait to prod the two individually after dinner. Her sister could be a bit ruthless sometimes, saying "Sometimes you need to feel pain in order to feel better later." She was brought out of her worries by Kagome's own concerned face.

"Mama, is something wrong? You seem very distracted."

"No, I'm fine, don't worry about me! I was just thinking about the miso soup, I may have added too much tofu." Mrs. Higurashi assured her. Appeased, Kagome returned to stony silence and glaring at her plate as if it had mortally offended her.

Mrs. Higurashi made small talk with her sister to break the silence- breaking the tension she deemed impossible. As she meandered about discussing Sota's soccer games (both Sota and Ji-chan had prudently decided to avoid dinner after hearing a snippet or two of Inuyasha and Kagome's fight) and school activities, she flashed back on her sister's instructions:…

* * *

"I want to be able to observe and understand how they interact in as normal a situation as possible. So, we will have dinner as we normally would; but if you reveal that I am taking note of their behavior, it will be ruined. They will become self-conscious and act differently and it will be that much more difficult for me to find the heart of the issue." Akiko said curtly.

"I understand that, but won't it not matter anyway? They've already had a fight, so the dinner and their behavior won't be normal from the very beginning." Mrs. Higurashi asked, confused.

"Don't the fights happen _normally_ on their own?"

"_Yes_, but-"

"And didn't you say that they have been fighting more and more recently?"

"Yes, but-"

"And aren't they_normally_ angry at one another after these fights?"

"Well, yes, but-"

"Then why would this situation be anything but normal?" Akiko finished, looking expectantly at her sister, daring her to question her logic.

Mrs. Higurashi sighed. "Their fights are normal, and their anger is as well, but normally the fights happen in the feudal era and Kagome comes straight back her to cool off, and if it was a bad enough fight Inuyasha won't come back to get her for quite a few days…Don't you see; they can't stand to be around one another after they fight! This dinner is in no way normal for them, don't you understand?" Mrs. Higurashi pleaded.

"Well, if they refuse I'll just go see them individually. If they accept, then it is obviously not out of the norm enough to matter. We'll leave it up to them, ok?" Akiko soothed. She could tell how much her sister cared for the couple (and for their success remaining one), and she wanted her sister to understand that she was there to help.

"Ok," Mrs. Higurashi agreed, somewhat comforted, if still apprehensive for the dinner.

End of Flashback-

* * *

Mrs. Higurashi, having paused involuntarily during her recollection, took a deep breath and began again with a new sense of purpose. _I'm trusting you, Akiko-chan_ she thought. _I'm trusting you to help these two- they deserve it more than anyone else I know!_

Akiko was intrigued by the two and focused all her attention upon the task before her; she would not disappoint her sister because of lack of effort. She silently took note of everything from their body language to how many times a minute they blinked, and how that number varied the changes in conversation. She even inwardly thanked herself for going to all those (she thought silly at the time) animal psychology seminars because what she did remember regarding ears was suddenly relevant; Inuyasha's dog ears seemed to express his feelings as much as any of his body language, and in a similar way to dogs.

By the end of that awkward meal (Inuyasha and Kagome silently competing to see who could take the silence the longest, refusing to give in before the other in any conceivable way), Akiko's head was brimming with all the information she had gathered. She nodded slightly to her sister to indicate her need to discuss something.

Mrs. Higurashi understood and stood up, stretching.

"Well, I'm certainly done, and it seems you all are as well. Akiko-chan and I can wash the dishes, you two can run along." She smiled, shooing the pair out of the door.

Hesitantly they left, still glaring murder at one another, Kagome up to her room, Inuyasha to the Goshinboku, both to fume and brood.

After she was sure they had left, Mrs. Higurashi turned to her sister.

"Well?"

"That relationship is quite an enigma…They're so angry and upset with one another, you wouldn't think them capable of loving one another the way you say they do." Akiko thought out loud.

"Do you think you'll be able to help them at all?" Mrs. Higurashi's heart was in her throat; those words had not been encouraging, as much as she agreed.

Akiko didn't really know, but she couldn't bring herself to say that to her worried older sister, so instead she said "Of course I will. Don't worry, I'll get to the bottom of this."

* * *

**A/N:** Ok, I know it's short, but the next one should be up soon. I wrote this a while ago, and I like where it ended, so the rest of the stuff I've written is going to be in a separate chapter. Hope you like it, and don't worry, the next one has some proper laughs. 


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer:** Guess I should have done this before…I don't own Inuyasha or Kagome or anyone else except Akiko, and I don't even own her methods! Or the title of this story! So yeah, I'm basically broke. Pity me. And don't sue.

* * *

**Ch 4** Differing Methods of Couple's Therapy

"So….Is Akiko-chan going to help Kagome stop being such a baka and tell Inuyasha how she feels?" Sota asked his mother quietly after watching Akiko leave to speak with his sister.

Sota and Ji-chan had finally crept out of their rooms, noticing the drop in the murderous vibes within the house. They had just heard the tail end of Mrs. Higurahsi and her sister's conversation, and were eager to find out more.

"Sota! Don't say that about your sister!" Mrs. Higurashi admonished him fiercely, barely remembering to keep it to a whisper to keep Kagome from hearing.

"What? Isn't Akiko-chan going to do her stuff to help them?" Sota said, looking confused.

"Yes of course she is, but Kagome is not the only problem here! They both need the help, not just her." Mrs. Higurashi glared at him fiercely, daring him to argue. The things that came out of some children's mouths!

"If you ask me, they should just use one of my holy sutras, that'll fix their problems! Hold on, I'll go get one." Ji-chan added his two bits to the discussion, leaving before either could say anything. They tried hard to hide their giggles as he muttered something about the few historical artifacts he had with the power to appease dog demons, and, more difficult still, teenage girls.

They couldn't hold in their laughter anymore after he left the room. Just thinking about the expression Akiko, professional psychiatrist, with who knew how many degrees and papers to her name, might make to know that a couple's issues had been resolved from something Ji-chan had used, sutra or mermaid scale, was enough to split anyone's sides. After a few moments Mrs. Higurashi calmed down enough to look down at Sota with a serious expression.

"Now, I want to make sure that you don't bother your sister, Inuyasha-kun, or Akiko-chan from now until she says she's finished with them. Neither are aware that she's doing this, and if you let it out it could ruin everything. Do you understand me?"

"Yes mother." Sota gulped. It was always scary when she managed to read his thoughts. How else could she have known about his plans to tell Kagome it was all her fault and why Akiko was there in the first place? He still disagreed with his mother about the problem too. Inuyasha was his idol, so he never did anything wrong. Therefore, (in perfect Sota/little brother logic) it had to be all Kagome's fault. Every fight, misunderstanding, or any other problem between the two had to somehow be related to her. (Kagome had failed to mention Kikyo to Sota, only complained of Inuyasha's bad attitude.) He admired Inuyasha all the more for dealing with his annoying sister so well.

But before he could say as much to his mother, Ji-chan returned.

"Here, hold these, boy." The patriarch ordered his grandson, dropping a box full of dusty 'antiques' into his arms as he began sorting through the many sutras he'd collected. "Let's see, let's see…Here we are! It may seem inappropriate to the novice's eye," he explained sagely to a wide-eyed Sota who had recognized the type. "But all good priests know to look past the typical use of a specific sutra, and instead focus on what it does in general. This one should do just the trick! I'll paste it over her door immediately." And with that little speech, he left the room purposefully, the chosen paper firmly clutched in his wrinkled old hands. He left behind quite the shocked pair.

Perhaps they were surprised at his forwardness; Akiko was sure to be upset with any interference whatsoever, especially the mumbo jumbo kind (as she thought of it). Perhaps they were taken aback at his acceptance and willingness to help; instead of trying to purify the hanyou, he was trying to actually help them get together, even though as a hanyou Inuyasha normally would have been the sworn enemy of any priest. Or perhaps they were shocked at his reserve; Ji-chan normally required at least twenty different sutras (and at least five of each) if he would need even one, not to mention all the old mystical 'artifacts' carried down through the ages.

It couldn't have been because he'd just chosen a fertility sutra for a couple that had never even kissed before.

Sota looked up in curiosity at his mother. "Should we do something about that?"

Smiling, she shook her head. "It's Ji-chan's, so it probably won't work, so no need to worry about that." She missed his shocked, embarrassed, and extremely grossed out expression. "Akiko won't know what it is, we can tell her it was for good luck if she even notices, not to mention claim it had been there all along."

"What about Inu-no-nii-chan?" Sota gulped. He couldn't dare let anything happen that might offend his hero!

"I seriously doubt that he would know what it was for specifically either. And if he does, well, we could say that Ji-chan was just getting a bit eager to be a great-grandfather."

"More like you're too eager to be a grandmother…"Sota muttered. Mrs. Higurashi didn't notice, still looking wistful.

"And if Kagome notices?" he added louder.

"Well, she knows I've been rather eager for grandchildren myself…" Mrs. Higurashi grinned, unabashed. Sota mumbled something that sounded like 'poor onee-chan' as she paused, a dreamy look in her eyes.

"I could tell her the same thing about Ji-chan,_ or_ I could just put on the side how many I think they should have, and their names…Knowing Kagome, she'd be too shy to explain it to Inuyasha-kun in the first place. Such a pity, I'd love grandchildren with his ears…" she trailed off.

Sota rolled his eyes. It'd be great to have Inuyasha around more often, but he wasn't nearly as crazy as his mom or Ji-chan. Trust Ji-chan to think a fertility sutra would solve their problems (Sota stuck out his tongue in repulsion at the idea), and his mom to think it was a good idea anyway if it worked. He was just glad Akiko-chan couldn't recognize the different types of sutras, or they'd all be dead about now. She was almost as scary as Kagome when people didn't follow her instructions properly.

Not to mention how scary Kagome would be if _she_ found out. Best not to let her notice, before anything really bad happened. He resolved to try and get it off as soon as Akiko-chan was done with Kagome. Unfortunately, he was going to have to wait a while. Kagome's issues were going to take at least 3 hours or so to sort through, and poor Sota would get to hear them all as he waited near her door for them to be finished.

Of course, even after hearing her perspective, he'd still think it was her fault. But he would also be all the more desperate to get that sutra off. If Kagome could disintegrate big, powerful demons in moments, who knew what she could do to him? Gulp.

* * *

**A/N: **Hehehe here is the promised fun- I never planned this, but it just popped into my head as I was finishing typing up the last chapter (I also wanted to stick in a bit about Ji-chan and Sota's takes on the whole thing- thank you so much for the idea, wbaker! Hope it meets with your expectations!) and I couldn't resist. There will be a continuation of the sutra in later chapters, so don't think it's disappeared! Hope you all liked it!

Oh, and the next chapter is muuuuch longer. Just to let you know...


	5. Chapter 5

**Ch 5** Kagome's Issues

"So, Kagome-chan, I haven't seen you in a while, how have you been doing lately?" Akiko tried out as innocent a question as possible so as to melt a bit of the ice from her niece's expression.

"Fine, I guess."

Souta snorted quietly. He was hiding just outside her room, trying to get the sutra off the door (not that it had budged in the slightest), so he couldn't help overhearing- and disagreeing. Kagome was about as far from fine recently as he was from growing cool ears like Inuyasha's. If she wasn't furious with Inuyasha, she was worried sick about him, or pining away while he was gone. It was even worse when she managed to combine the three. He hoped Akiko-chan wasn't stupid enough to believe her. He wasn't disappointed, a look of triumph on his face at her reaction.

Akiko sighed. She hadn't really expected it to be easy, but she had hoped for a bit more than that from the usually chatty and bubbly Kagome.

"Well, your mama told me about your time travelling in the past months; that certainly sounds exciting!" she persisted.

"It can be at times…But most of the time it's not so different from here."

Souta groaned at that. What a liar. Just the fact that Inuyasha, his idol, was from the Sengoku Jidai made it the complete opposite of the boring future.

"Really? How so?" Akiko kept it up. She was bound to say something eventually.

"Well…People don't really change that much, even in 500 years. Mothers still worry about their children and husbands off at war, children still worry about their fathers and brothers at war, and those at war still worry about those they've left behind. I guess the only real difference is the lack of wars, rather than the people in them." Kagome blinked, a little surprised at her musings. Those hadn't been her thoughts at all when Akiko-chan first asked her question.

_Man,_ Souta thought. _Nee-chan really knows how to suck the fun out of everything._

_Finally_, Akiko thought, her reaction the opposite of Souta's. _A real response to sink my teeth into. An obsequious fixation with worries and war, hmm? Let's see where that leads…_

"It doesn't sound very safe with all that fighting around. Are _you_ ever worried or scared?"

Kagome looked at her in surprise, but answered anyway, if a bit hesitantly. "I, I, ….umm… we, my group of companions and I, tend to keep out of all the human wars. There's really nothing we could do to stop them, so we just try to help people as best we can in little ways as we meet them on our way. Occasionally we'll stop to bury the dead, or nurse the wounded, but most of the time we just exorcise demons from the villages we pass through so as to get free lodgings and things like that."

Souta was disappointed in his sister. All those adventures, and she made them sound as exciting as cleaning the cat's litter box.

"I see. It still must be unpleasant to pass by all the battlefields and all the villages missing men." Akiko noticed how Kagome avoided her actual question but didn't push for an answer; silence could be as significant as any words that might be dredged out of her as a response, and probably more so in this case.

"Well…Yes it is. But we have witnessed worse than war." was Kagome's cryptic answer.

Akiko and Souta both perked up a bit at that, interested in the juicy details despite themselves. Akiko was an adult, and here on business, but that didn't keep her curiosity from guiding her next question.

"What could possibly be worse than war?"

Kagome's eyes looked distant, and she appeared unaware of Akiko's presence or even her own voice as she answered.

"Tricking two people in love into hating and betraying one another; even making one of them think she was killed by the other; turning family against one another so that one knows no love or pain, and the other can feel only pain and love; cursing a family to live a life of fear of their own right hands;" Kagome's voice lost its edge as she turned to look deeply into Akiko-s eyes.

"That is what is worse than the perpetual war of the Sengoku Jidai."

Akiko was a bit taken aback, and thought hard for several moments. Finally deciding to let her curiosity go and stick to the task of helping Kagome and Inuyasha-kun, she changed the subject as subtly as possible (much to Souta's displeasure; he'd finally gotten a chance to escape his boredom, only to have it snatched away).

"Hidoi! Where do you get the strength to keep going through all of this strife?"

Kagome chuckled. "I don't really know sometimes. I normally draw strength from my friends, and them from me. My friendship and lo-," she blinked at herself before continuing. "I mean, my _friendship_, distracts me from some of the horrible things that happen. It's really not all that bad most of the time, just occasionally."

Souta smirked at the slip. Deny it as she might (not that he could ever understand why), his sister was head over heels in love with his idol.

Kagome tried to gloss over her little stutter. It had just occurred to her that Akiko-chan hated history, loved science, and was treating her, albeit subtly, like one of her patients. No, she mentally slapped herself. Akiko-chan hadn't once asked how she felt about any of this (her aunt's trademark phrase with her patients); she must be genuinely interested. A little angry at herself for not trusting her own family, Kagome's attention finally returned to the conversation.

Fortunately her thoughts hadn't taken more than a moment, and her aunt had been busy thinking as well, choosing her next words carefully.

"Your friends must be remarkable people! What are they like?"

"Umm…Sango-chan is strong, both in her will and her body, and experienced fighting demons. She's also friendly and full of love, even if she doesn't always show it. She's like my sister, I can always depend on her for comfort, to defend me, and she me. Miroku-sama on the other hand…well; he's very different from Sango-chan. He's a lecher and a liar and a small-time crook, but he's also a Buddhist monk who knows a lot about philosophy and things like that. Shippo is just a kid, with spunk and bravery and innocence…He's silly and doesn't always know what's going on, but he keeps up anyway!" Kagome paused to laugh, thinking of Shippo licking a lollipop in confusion as he watched Miroku get slapped yet again by a fiercely blushing Sango.

Souta frowned; wasn't Nee-chan leaving the most important person out? But Akiko took quick care of that.

"And what about Inuyasha-kun? Your mother said you've known him the longest; what's he like?"

"I'll tell you what he's like: he's violent, aggressive, arrogant, self-centered, rude, inconsiderate, ignorant-" Akiko cut her off quickly; Souta breathed a sigh of relief; he hadn't known how many more insults to his hero he could endure without barging in and revealing himself.

"If he's so terrible, why spend time with him at all?"

"Well, neither of us have a choice," _It's like Kaede-ba-chan told us at the beginning_, she thought: "He needs me in order to sense the sacred jewel shards, and I need him because I'm too weak to get them back on my own." Kagome's voice was bitter and harsh, and Akiko took note. Souta didn't notice the tone at all; he was too busy frowning in disagreement at her words. Neither of the two had ever really seemed forced into it to him.

"If it's just you who's forced to be around him, why do your other friends spend time with him?" Akiko said.

Souta tuned out the next bit; it was Inuyasha and his heroics he cared about, not her other friends, especially when she would probably make them boring too.

"Well, he isn't like that as much with them. He and Miroku-sama actually get along really well, for all the times he threatened to kill Miroku when we first met him!" Kagome giggled, remembering that time that seemed so long ago.

Akiko pretended not to notice the laugh and asked in a surprised tone: "Inuyasha-kun threatened to kill him?! Why?!"

"Oh, Miroku-sama was just being his usual perverted self and had asked me to bear his child, or groped me or something like that. He does that to every girl he meets, and he gropes Sango-chan all the time, he meant nothing by it!" Kagome quickly assured her at her shocked and offended expression.

"Did Inuyasha-kun know that at the time?" Akiko probed.

"Er, no, I guess he didn't…I'd forgotten that; I hadn't known Miroku-sama at the time either.." Kagome said slowly, a little surprised at herself. "But he's done all sorts of other things; in fact, I have a friend that he not only gives death threats to, but also fights with every time he shows up! Inuyasha even gets angry at me for being nice to Kouga-kun!" Kagome huffed, crossing her arms over her chest, all forgiveness and understanding forgotten.

"How is your friend doing?"

"Huh?" Kagome looked up in surprise, caught off guard while mid-pout.

"You said that Inuyasha-kun fights this Kouga-kun every time they meet; he can't possibly escape uninjured if he's being attacked all the time, can he?" Akiko explained.

"Oh, well, it's not quite attacking…Inuyasha does give warning if he starts it…"

"_If_ Inuyasha-kun starts it?"

"Well, it normally is Inuaysha who starts it, but the fights are kind of mutual…" Kagome said feebly.

"They're mutual? So Kouga-kun doesn't like Inuyasha-kun either?" Souta, having finally come back to listening, silently crowed in triumph. He'd known Inuyasha would have a reason, and curious again, he paid attention all the more.

"No, well you see, they kind of detest each other…" Kagome sighed.

"Why?"

Kagome blushed. "Umm, I suppose at first Inuyasha didn't like Kouga-kun because he kidnapped me…"

"He kidnapped you?! I thought you said Kouga-kun was your friend!" Akiko exclaimed, incredulous.

"We didn't know each other then- and Kouga-kun could have harmed me at any time, but he didn't! He needed my help finding some Shikon shards; that was the only reason he took me!" Kagome used the customary excuses and assurances she always tried on Inuyasha (not that they ever made a difference in his opinion). Or any difference in Souta's. How could his sister be so naïve as to trust this guy? It was a good thing Inuyasha was there to take care of her. Akiko secretly agreed with Inuyasha as well, but didn't let it show; it was best not to argue with patients unless absolutely necessary.

"If you weren't in any danger, why does Inuyasha-kun still not like Kouga-kun?"

"Well," and here Kagome blushed even fiercer and turned away, she was so embarrassed. "Kouga-kun, in front of everyone, including Inuyasha, declared that he loved me and that I was his woman, that I would marry him…"

Souta was in a state of shock. First Hojo drooling over his sister, and now this freak. No wonder Inuyasha was pissed. Akiko wasn't much better, but she hid it well.

"But if Kouga-kun meant you no harm, and really did love you, why would Inuyasha-kun care so long as you could still find Shikon shards? You said that was all that he needed from you." Akiko prodded.

"Oh, but I wouldn't have been able to keep helping him find shards- Kouga-kun would have taken them if he had even allowed me to keep searching or them in the first place." Kagome responded after a moment's hesitation.

"What did Inuyasha-kun actually_ say_ and _do_ when Kouga-kun made his declaration?" If she had to drag the obvious out of Kagome kicking and screaming she would do it.

"Well…he asked me if I really did care about Kouga-kun, after getting mad at me for implying that he might be worried about it in the first place!" Kagome seethed.

Souta gave up hope on his sister, and stopped listening altogether. She was a baka, there was no getting around it. Poor Inuyasha. He would worship Akiko as a miracle maker if she managed to fix this, but he didn't have the patience. He promptly dozed off, content in the knowledge that it was all Kagome's fault, but that she was getting the serious help she needed and his idol wouldn't have to suffer anymore.

Akiko sighed; so close, so very close, but now that chance at understanding was gone. Back to square one…But she, like Souta, didn't have the patience for that. The girl might take another year to actually figure it out, even with her help. So instead she opted for convincing Kagome herself, rather than let her discover it on her own.

"Maybe Inuyasha-kun was worried, but he didn't want you to know. He was probably concerned for you when you were captured, and angry at Kouga-kun for that. He probably holds his grudge against Kouga-kun because he sees Kouga-kun as a threat to your safety and well being, just as he did with Miroku-sama. He might have been jealous as well…" Akiko teased.

"Do you really think so?" Kagome asked, unconscious of the desperate hope in her tone.

"From all I've heard about him from you and your mother, it seems to me that he cares for you very much, but isn't very good at showing it." Akiko smiled at her, surprised that the problem had been so simple. Sometimes being impatient did pay off. She was in for a rude awakening as Kagome's expression, so happy only moments before, clouded yet again.

"He never has difficulty showing how he cares for Kikyou…"Kagome began, eyes downcast. Akiko gulped. This didn't seem as easy as she had thought.

"Who is Kikyou?" she asked hesitantly.

"Kikyou is the first woman Inuyasha ever fell in love with…"Kagome said slowly. She went on to explain how the two met, were tricked by Naraku into betraying one another, Kikyou's death, resurrection, attempts to drag Inuyasha into hell with her and kill Kagome, giving Naraku Kagome's part of the Shikon no Tama, Inuyasha's unwavering support…

It went on and on. Kagome let it out slowly at first, originally intending to keep it brief, the bare facts alone, but as she continued she gained momentum, and her voice strengthened, and it was like she was purging some poison; it felt good to finally let out all these thoughts and memories and emotions; they had fermented and congealed within her for far too long. This release was the shedding of a perpetually growing burden that she had long carried but never noticed, and it felt good. It made her feel a bit more- more- free, she decided.

However, as much as she let out, there was still much of the story she simply glossed over or left out altogether. Akiko noticed her restraint regarding herself and her feelings for Inuyasha and that tempered her joy at Kagome's flood of thought and emotion; the purging was not over yet. And so Akiko dared to continue her probes.

"Does Inuyasha-kun know how you feel about all of this?"

That stopped the flood at once. More effectively than most dams. An awkward silence fell for a few moments till Kagome's voice broke it again.

"No…And I wouldn't tell him either. I want him to be happy, and if Kikyou can do that for him, so be it. I couldn't interfere with that, with his chance for a peaceful, content life with his love," Kagome's voice choked on the word, but she went on anyway. "Most of his life he was lonely and hated by all for being a hanyou- he had no friends, no father, his mother died when he was very young, his own brother still despises the ground he walks on…He always acts like it was nothing, but it wasn't; I can tell. Kikyou was the first person to not judge him; on top of being his first love, she was also his first friend. And even after Naraku did all of that to them, she died rather than use the Shikon no Tama to survive. I can't compare with that; and if she makes him finally able to find peace and happiness, let her." Kagome sighed sadly. Akiko was about to interject, but she wasn't done yet.

"He really chose Kikyou a while ago- he would've had me stop coming at all, but I insisted on staying anyway."

Seeing that her niece had finished, Akiko finally began. She was thinking furiously about all that Kagome had said, and an idea had occurred to her. But before she could try it out, she had to be sure that her impression of Kagome's feelings was correct.

"You care more about his happiness than your own?"

Kagome looked up at her finally, her face a bit confused at the question; the answer was so obvious to her.

"Well, of course." She said it as if it were the only possible option: of course his happiness was the most important thing; she could never be happy if he wasn't.

"Then please hear me out on this: I wouldn't give up on someone you love so deeply so quickly." Kagome blushed, but let her continue.

"Now I'd just like to ask a few questions. Firstly, you said that Inuyasha needed you as a shard detector, correct?"

"Yes…" Kagome answered slowly.

"You said that it was your miko abilities that allowed you to detect them, right?"

"Yes…"

"You have miko abilities like Kikyou?"

"Well, yes, but she's the strong one with training and experience and wisdom while I'm-"

"I'm not finished yet. Besides, that only serves to prove my point all the more. Moving on. You said that Inuyasha-kun loves Kikyou and so he prefers her to you in every way, didn't you?"

"Y-yes…" Kagome let out with a barely concealed whimper. Funny, seeing how long he'd been telling her just that. Somehow hearing it from her aunt in such a brisk, business tone made it worse; her aunt said it as if it were just one of those facts of life that there was no getting around; Inuyasha said it when he was angry or annoyed with her, and she'd always hoped he hadn't meant it. _So much for that…_

"Which would include who he prefers to spend time with?"

"Well, yes…" Kagome answered hesitantly, still unsure as to where her aunt was going with it all.

"Then why does he stay with you at all?"

"Wh-what?" was all Kagome could manage. That was not what she had expected in the slightest.

"You heard me girl; in fact, _you_ were answering_ my_ questions! Did you not even hear your own answers?" Akiko interrogated fiercely.

"Huh?" Kagome gasped, even more confused.

"Use logic Kagome! If Kikyou is more skilled as a miko than you, then she should be able to find and gather jewel shards better than you! And if all Inuyasha-kun wanted from you was to detect shards, and if Kikyou is better at it, and he'd always rather be with Kikyou, why hasn't she replaced you? Why does he stay with you when by all reasoning he should be with Kikyou?" Akiko's eyes burned into Kagome, willing her to understand, to realize what she had here.

"Well, I, I, I'm her reincarnation; I even look like her; he probably stays with me because I remind him of her, only I'm alive." Kagome was startled by her aunt at first, enough to dare to hope, to dream for just a moment. But then reality came crashing down again.

"Don't be a baka. If he only saw her in you, why wouldn't he still prefer her?" Akiko's voice insisted, not backing down in the slightest.

Kagome opened her mouth to speak, to repeat the bit about being alive again, but was cut off.

"I know you're alive and Kikyou isn't; but that doesn't make her resurrected form less like herself in life than you are! The psyche defines people to those that love them, not their bodies- and your psyche is nothing like Kikyou's." Kagome could only stare in wonder at her aunt, now panting from her tirade.

Souta was woken by his aunt's vehemence and intensity just in time to hear the product; the promised miracle.

"You, you, you think he might care for me as more than a shard detector? Maybe even more than a friend?" Kagome asked hesitantly, still fearing the answer.

Seeing that Kagome had finally grasped her logic, a warm smile replaced the scowl Akiko had worn not moments before. Souta himself was stunned. He vowed to pay more attention to his aunt's lectures on human behavior in the future.

"I think he cares for you more than he does for Kikyou."

"But…That can't be, he's always saying how helpless and weak I am, how he's tired of me…Earlier today even he was saying how he didn't care at all!" she cried.

Akiko sighed. Again. That boy definitely had issues. But she was sure of her conclusion. It was the only explanation that made any sense. Souta sighed, rethinking his hasty promise. It wasn't too late to take back, was it? Those lectures could be boring, and if they didn't even work…

"Maybe he's confused dear; just because you care for someone deeply doesn't mean you've admitted it to yourself. And even if he has realized his feelings, that doesn't mean he's good at expressing them."

Kagome laughed loudly and harshly at that; she'd never met anyone near as guarded as Inuyasha, or as bad at his expressing feelings.

But despite that, she felt better somehow at her aunt's words. She wasn't so sure about Inuyasha caring more for her than Kikyo, but she couldn't deny the sense Akiko employed. She was something more than a shard collector to him after all. She couldn't help but smile weakly.

"Thank you. You have helped me so much…" she trailed off, unable to express her gratitude properly.

Souta sat up in surprise. Maybe the lectures _did_ work…Maybe you just had to be patient. (Relatively speaking of course).

Akiko smiled in return. "I was glad to. If you don't mind, I'd like to catch up a bit more with your mother."

"Ok." Kagome smiled and said: "I had better get back to studying anyways."

Souta scuttled out of the way before the door opened, watching his aunt from around the corner with a kind of reverence. To think that Inuyasha's happiness would be thanks to this woman. He'd have to tell him, after it was all over.

But before that happened, he had to get rid of that sutra. He couldn't have it all ruined by his grandpa's idiocy after all. He glanced around for something to pry it off with, as his hands obviously weren't working. Finding a little plastic knife of all things, he began to attack the paper with a new fervor as soon as his aunt was out of sight.

Akiko left, still smiling, but did not let her victory go to her head. She wasn't even halfway done after all- and she seriously doubted her second patient would be even half as responsive as her first. She sighed. It didn't seem that she would get time to catch up with her sister tonight. Damn teenagers.

* * *

**A/N:** I hope that wasn't too confusing for all of you. I wrote this chapter a while ago with only Akiko and Kagome in mind, but when I finished typing last night I felt like something was missing. I got the resolution I wanted, and kept things more or less in character, but addressing all the issues I could think of from Kagome's point of view took a while and I wanted some fun in there. I hope it worked, and that you enjoyed it all!

Inuyasha's issues will be coming next, no worries, but I don't think I'll be showing Souta's perspective there. It's going to be enough of a challenge finishing it in a somewhat timely manner as is…


	6. Chapter 6

**Ch 6** How to: Force Therapy on a Stubborn Hanyou!

* * *

Akiko was feeling rather apprehensive. She had been brought to believe a series of ludicrous things that night, from the existence of demons to time travelling and the idea that her niece, her own flesh and blood, had spiritual powers, and to cap it all off, was now in a relationship with a hanyou. A relationship that she had agreed to help. Fine, there was no denying any of that anymore, but couldn't she keep at least one scant bit of normality about her? Just one? But no, apparently she couldn't. Inuyasha-kun had made it very clear that he was not coming down from his perch in the Goshinboku any time soon. Oh, what she would give to have a normal patient lying on her couch in her office!

"What do you want?" he asked sulkily.

"Well that's not very polite- what did I ever do to you to deserve such treatment?" She couldn't help herself, the indignant words simply burst from her mouth.

"Oh, I don't know, halted our quest for a whole week maybe?" he responded, sarcasm and derision dripping from every word.

"What are you talking about? Kagome-chan usually leaves whenever she wants to, doesn't she?" For once her short temper had been a blessing; with this line of conversation she might yet get him to understand her niece's point of view, simply by defending her.

"Not when she's got stupid tests to take or probing relatives to please!"

"Ouch. It bites," she muttered, wincing. So much for her previous plans.

Inuyasha gave a short, harsh laugh. "You really don't think I heard that?"

She looked up at him in obvious surprise. "But- you're all the way up there and even I barely heard myself here-How-?" she protested.

Inuyasha rolled his eyes. "Does the word 'hanyou' mean nothing to you?"

Despite his obvious contempt for her ignorance, she thought she also detected a note of bitterness in his voice, as if the truth of his nature pained him somehow.

"Oh yes…I guess I never really thought about it much, Kagome and her mother never seemed to treat you that differently…" she said slowly.

His expression softened somewhat, but he hid it well with his response, a simple "Keh."

Then he muttered, more to himself than her: "What else would you expect from a baka girl like that?"

It was his turn to have a murmur overheard. "What's baka bout treating you as an equal?" she asked indignantly- after all, it was _her_ niece he was insulting!

"I don't have to explain myself to you," he replied tersely, turning away from her gaze.

"You're not going to make this easy, are you?" she groaned. It was meant as a snarl, but she just didn't have the energy after admitting to that fact, indignant or not.

"No." Pause. "Make what easy?" He turned around suddenly, narrowing his eyes, finally processing her words.

"Never you mind," she huffed, calculating that as long as he was curious, he wouldn't shut her out completely. _Let's see how long I can keep this up…_she thought.

He glared, trying to figure out what she'd meant. "You're not here because Kagome thinks I'm scared of spiders, are you?" he asked, incredulous. He'd thought Kagome knew him well enough to not think something so ridiculous- but it was the only explanation he could think of.

"What? Of course not!" she replied, very surprised. What was wrong with this boy? "Why on earth would you think that?"

Her quick denial and uptake caught him off-guard, and he responded without actually thinking (truthfully). "Well, Kagome said you're a sai-komo, sai-koro, sai, sai…" he stumbled over the word for a moment before finishing lamely: "she said that you helped people that were scared of spiders…"

She laughed. _So that was it!_ "Well she wasn't lying, I do help people who have irrational fears, some being spiders, but that is hardly all I do, and definitely not why I came to talk to you." A half-lie; she was here to work, although it technically _did_ have nothing to do with spiders.

He started to turn away again, reassured that Kagome at least didn't think him a coward, but then remembered what he'd been asking about in the first place. "Wait…Then why do you want to talk to me?"

"I never said I_wanted_ to talk to you, and frankly if you don't start cooperating soon, I might just give up," she replied contrarily.

He narrowed his gaze, undeterred. "You're not answering the question."

She sighed. Keeping him talking, let alone talking about his self, was going to be a real task. "You're very persistent, aren't you?"

"Keh."

_Hmmm…So he doesn't feel comfortable talking about himself, and he's stubborn…he doesn't give up… He definitely had a rough childhood, probably more than Kagome meant when she said as much to me-_

"You still haven't answered my question." He startled her from her speculation.

"What would you do if I said that I can't tell you why I'm here?" she replied off-handedly, still trying to analyze his psyche despite distractions.

"I wouldn't believe you obviously; I'm not an idiot. Why the hell would you tell me you were here for a reason if you couldn't tell me why?"

_Hmm…very capable of rational thought then, but not familiar with being handled, let alone mind games-_

"Are you even listening to me?!"

"Absolutely. You don't believe that I can't tell you why I'm here." _So he's got a quick temper and is quite impatient…_She had no idea how right she was. Said hanyou's temper/patience had just worn through. He made sure to make his words as offensive as possible to get her to leave as quickly as possible. She'd overstayed her welcome, Kagome's family or not, and he was getting annoyed.

"Look, if you're not going to damn say anything, just f off."

"No wonder you fight with Kagome so much; you _are_ impatient and rude beyond belief!" she answered without thinking.

Inuyasha forgot his desire to get rid of her. There were more important things than his being annoyed after all. Like whether or not Kagome hated him-only Kagome could have told her that. The thought made his blood run cold, and his inhibitions evaporated as quickly as an ice cube thrown into an active volcano.

"Who said that?" he growled in her face, having leapt down from the branch finally. To stand right in front of her, his face inches from hers, meant to intimidate.

She waved away his question with a condescending "_I_ did you dolt", stepping back briskly and adding: "Took you long enough to get out of that tree. Now we can act like at least semi-civilized people."

"Keh. Don't you get it? I'm not civilized; I'm hanyou; why do you expect me to be like you?" Well, Kagome didn't hate him. That was good. It seemed her aunt needed some sense knocked into her though-

"Because being a hanyou doesn't make you psychologically different enough from any human to merit significantly different personal or social treatment."

Silence.

Processing…

"Huh?"

"Because as rude and impatient and aggressive and insulting as you act, you're still a person, and I trust Kagome's judgment, just like the rest of her family."

"Oh…" She could tell he was thinking hard. "Wait…what _did_ Kagome tell you about me?"

"Not much explicit, and even less specific; most of what I know of how she thinks of you comes from observing the two of you…" she paused at his blank expression and decided to rephrase her answer.

"Kagome has barely said a word about you to me, but I can judge how she thinks of you on my own," she finished her assurance.

It might have been a lie, but it was unavoidable, on her honor as a psychologist; Kagome's words, even regarding him, were completely confidential. To the point that she would lie about ever having heard them in the first place.

"How do you know what she thinks of me if she doesn't even talk about me?" he asked, a little suspicious and offended.

Akiko sighed. She seemed to be doing that a lot lately. So much for her assurances. There was no pleasing the boy. _Possibly because he himself isn't sure of what he wants?_ She stored that thought away to study later; it had a ring of plausibility to it, but for the moment she had to answer his question.

"I don't know_exactly_ what she thinks of you…like you guessed, I can't know that without talking to her more about you…But it doesn't take much for me to be able to tell that she thinks of you as an equal."

"Keh. That's just because she's a baka who doesn't know any better." He dismissed it easily.

"This again! What is so baka bout Kagome thinking of you as an equal?!"

"It seems you really don't know what 'hanyou' means, even less than she does. Let me spell it out for you then: to be hanyou is to be an outcast, to never belong; I'm hated and feared by humans as tainted demon scum, and despised and ridiculed by demons as weak human filth. It means that wherever I go, no one trusts me, no one accepts me, _no_ _one_ treats me as an equal. I'm _not_ her equal: I'm a filthy hanyou. Get it?" he seethed.

"You…You really believe that about yourself?" She was completely taken aback; his passion spoke of his lonely hated life even louder than his words.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"You don't really think of yourself as _filth_, do you?"

"Keh. As if that matters. I'll _always_ be shit so far as the rest of the world is concerned."

"Inuyasha-kun-" she began, not sure of what to say.

"Why do you think I have this damn rosary around my neck to begin with?!"

"Wha-? What does the rosary have to do with-?"

"These are beads of subjugation spelled to Kagome, so with a word she can incapacitate me, and I have it because I'm not to be trusted! I can't even trust myself- if my life is in danger my demon blood takes over and I turn into a blood lusting machine- I could even kill Kagome when I'm like that-" his voice cracked.

"I still don't understand-"

"If I was full demon I'd be able to control myself, and if I was full human I'd never have the strength to put her in danger in the first place! Do you understand now? I'm a monster! A worthless hanyou whose own strength is either not enough to protect my friends or a danger to them!"

He glared at her, waiting for the response he knew would come, Kagome's aunt or not. Sometimes people reacted with fear at his true nature, other times hatred; repulsion was the most common, and when she stepped back, that's what he took it for. He was surprised when she spoke, her tone devoid of disgust, but serious all the same.

"I want you to listen to me Inuyasha-kun, and listen well, lest you let your inferiority complex and whatever other psychological complexes you have twist my words."

"Huh?"

She took that as an assent. "You have lost yourself to your demon blood before, yes?"

He glared at her, and jerked his head in a forced nod.

"And when you lose yourself to your demon blood, you lose control and are perfectly capable of killing all in your path, including Kagome."

His glare turned fiercer, his expression darkened; but then his gaze snapped away, he looked down, and he grunted an assent.

"So, you don't have any way to bring her back from the dead do you?"

"What?"

"That's what I thought. It seems to me that, at least subconsciously, you have some control; some part of you knows not to harm Kagome-"

"That's the kind of bullshit you'd like to think, wouldn't you? It's dumb luck, you idiot, and the Tessaiga and this rosary is all that has kept Kagome alive so far-"

"So you've never gone full-demon without the rosary to bring you back?" She quickly changed tactics, to his displeasure. She refused to lose this argument.

He glared at her for a moment before relenting. "It happened once. That doesn't mean anything tho-"

"How did you come back then? And what kept you from hurting Kagome until then?"

He ignored the first part, latching onto the relevant question (as he thought of it).

"Nothing, dammit! That's what I meant, I'm not to be trusted, don't you get it you baka teme, I _hurt_ her!"

"What brought you back, Inuyasha-kun?" she repeated stoically. There was a reason he'd ignored it; that he would try and make her forget it by being offended by his swearing; he was hiding something.

"That's the worst part! Don't you get it? When I came back to myself her _blood_ was on my hands! She still has the scars! All because she was so insanely stupid as to get near me like that!"

"She must have had a reason for that. And are you implying that her mere presence was enough to bring you back as you've mentioned nothing else she'd done? That contradicts your entire argument! Just tell me what happened!"

"Fine, you want it all? I'll tell you." He growled, his voice lower, but somehow all the more intense. "That, that, that fing idiot kissed me. I could have killed her, she risked her life for me- do you have any idea how _wrong_ that is?! I'm her protector; it's the one thing I'm good for- she should have stayed where it was safe, damn it!"

She peered at him, incredulous.

"You're, you're serious…You wouldn't care if you lost your soul permanently, so long as she was ok…"

He had yet to realize what she was inferring, and so did not pull back from expressing himself as he normally did. As soon as he normally did anyway.

"Keh! As if that mattered! Don't you get it baka?! She could have died, and it would have been by my hand, trying to save me! That's my job dammit! She's not supposed to die for me; I'm supposed to die for her! She has a life, family, people who love her-!" He choked, realizing just how much he'd let out, just how much he was about to admit to- he cursed, turning to leap away.

Akiko caught his sleeve just as his feet left the ground, throwing him off-balance and stopping his flight as effectively as any osuwari.

"Damn woman." He grunted, and flew into a blistering string of curses fit to rip the bark off of trees, only stopping when he ran out of breath. Even then it took a while- he could hold it longer than normal humans, Akiko was sure.

Akiko stood over him, one eyebrow raised, apparently unfazed by his foul mouth. Having a Tourettes patient or two helped with that.

"Are you quite done yet? Because if you are, I have something to say myself."

He glowered, looking away.

"Well? I asked you a question." She had to make sure he'd speak, she knew to keep him from running away was not enough; he had to listen, and most of all, talk still, or she'd never get this done. She was determined.

It seemed Inuyasha noticed her resolve, either in her voice or expression or stance (feet planted wide, hands on hips), because after a long pause he relented. Somewhat. This was Inuyasha after all- stubbornness was ingrained in his nature.

"Fine. I'm done. Happy?" he sneered.

"Not so much right now actually, although I will be when I finish all this and can go to sleep…Moving on." Keep him off-balance, she thought. Hopefully his curiosity will keep him here, if nothing else will.

"I get that you had a screwed up childhood. I get that you've got an intense inferiority complex, and from that, a need to prove yourself, despite you covering it up with your cockiness. I even get why you're being such an ass about facing your own thoughts and feelings. But you need to stop hurting Kagome because of it-"

He growled. Literally growled at her, his eyes feral, his stance taut and menacing. It caught her off-guard, but she refused to back down. She took a deep breath, hiding her surprise (that's all it was of course, there wasn't a lick of fear, even seeing those disturbingly sharp fangs gleaming at her like that- she squashed that thought quickly). Her lack of fear became a reality as she remembered what Kagome had said, or rather, what she hadn't needed to say; she trusted Inuyasha implicitly, with her life, so why shouldn't she do the same? Besides, had he wanted to hurt her, he would've done it long ago. Finally regaining her resolve, she continued, pretending to be undaunted by his reaction. In a way, she finally wasn't.

"You need to stop hurting her because of it." She stared hard at him as she repeated herself, making sure he understood what she meant, and how strongly she meant it. "I can help you with that. You were right, I am here for a reason: because I love my niece and my sister and I want them to be happy. My sister will never be happy if her daughter isn't, and Kagome won't be if you don't figure out some things, and soon. There's only so much she can take you know." She paused for effect. Somewhere along the way the growling had stopped, but he was no less tense than before. Hoping against hope that it would work, she plunged forward, honesty her guide.

"I can help you stop hurting her. But only if you let me."

Inuyasha narrowed his eyes, his emotions warring within him for supremacy. His pride screamed at him to teach her a lesson: how dare she, a weak human woman, condescend to offer him help! But his heart completely disagreed. He did care for Kagome, deeply, in his own confused way, and it pained him to think of her suffering, and all the more knowing it was his fault. How could he refuse such an offer, so freely given? He wanted to understand her point of view, to know how to make her happy. He wanted to keep her from getting angry at him because she thought he'd meant something he hadn't. He wanted to never see her tears again.

He wanted to stop hurting her.

"You might be uncomfortable going over your own past, especially with a complete stranger, and I respect that. But even if you never share that with me, I can explain some things about Kagome that would help the two of you immensely. I get the feeling that one of the causes of your fights is miscommunication; it happens to all couples, no matter how long they've known each other. The fact is, males and females think differently, so a completely innocent remark by one would seem the gravest of insults to another-" She was rambling, unsure of what to say, of how to convince him to at least try. He cut off her blather with a curt nod.

"I'll do it."

She gaped in surprise._He capitulated that easily? Is he serious?_ But the determination in his eyes was all the answer she needed. He wanted the problems fixed; that was clear. Closing her mouth quickly, she gave him a small smile.

"I'm glad. Now tell me something that has bothered you about her, something you're unsure of." She was careful to avoid the word fear- he had his pride after all.

Blushing a little, he nodded. He wasn't used to sharing things about himself, even with Kagome, but this was necessary, so he forced his mouth to work. It was difficult, but he managed to get the damn thing to open.

If only his voice would come out too…

Akiko was getting a bit frustrated. More like a lot. It was well past her bed time, and her patient had apparently decided to try imitating a fish out of water, just when she thought he was cooperating. She clamped down on her impatience with the more threatening thought that if she didn't get him to talk soon, she might be up _all night_. Shudder. She reviewed her memories from University-what were the tricks for getting shy patients to talk again? Nothing came to her. So she just blurted out the first idea that came into her head; she was desperate after all.

"If it makes it easier, just pretend I'm not here." She rolled her eyes. _As if something as stupid as _that_ could work-_

Her thought was cut off by his nod. Hesitantly, he settled his gaze on the Goshinboku to his right. He convinced himself that he would spill his intensely private thoughts and feelings to the tree, not her. She didn't exist anymore. That was hardly spilling at all: the Goshinboku had been with him in his worst times, had been with him for a full fifty years- it already knew his secrets, could not scoff at him, would only give him the sense of peace and centeredness that it always did. Maybe this could work after all.

She could feel the tension dissipating, almost physically, as if the chorus of screeching violins typical to dramas had suddenly dropped out. She had no idea why he gazed so trustingly at the tree, but it didn't really matter. It wasn't like she hadn't realized already how messed up the kid was from her sister earlier.

With only the tiniest shred of hesitation, he began.

"I don't deserve her. I don't deserve either of them." He sad it calmly, but the regret was clear from his tone.

_What?_ Akiko thought in surprise.

"I failed Kikyou because I couldn't trust her, couldn't protect her from Naraku. I'll fail her again if I don't follow her down to hell like I promised I would, because I can't leave Kagome. Kikyou cared for me enough to die for me, and yet all I do is wish she'd never come back."

_Oh…That's what he's talking about…_was all Akiko's mesmerized mind could manage. She morphed instantly from frustrated, tired, impatient psychologist to wide-eyed spectator, drinking in every word.

"I fail Kagome every time I can't protect her- the time with the Shichinintai, with the Thunder Brothers, with Tsubaki, and worst of all the time I went full demon and nearly slaughtered her myself. I fail her every time I go to see Kikyo- she trusts me so much, but I just go on breaking it.

"I don't deserve that trust, that friendship, that sympathy. I never asked for it dammit! I never asked for her to be kind to me! I tried to keep her away from me, I still do! Doesn't she get that all I'll ever do is hurt her? All I ever do is hurt the ones, the ones,…the ones I care about. All I ever do is lose them in the end.

"First was mother. The one person who didn't hate me for being hanyou, and I let her die of that damn cold. A cold! What am I, some idiot?! Any other five-year-old should have known how to at least follow their own mother's instructions! But no, I failed her, and I hurt her, and she died. I promised to keep myself to myself from then on, no way was I going to lose someone else.

"But I had to be an idiot and let someone else get close again. Kikyo. At least she understood I could never do anything right as a half-demon. I thought after I changed, I'd be normal, I could stop worrying about hurting people. I could stop being alone…But no, I failed at that too, and I hurt her, made her hate me, and she died.

"When I got pinned to that tree I didn't regret it. It was my own damn fault I'd let myself get close to her- hell, she betrayed me, but I didn't hate her. It hurt, like it always does, but I still cared for her.

"When Kagome woke me up I knew I had to keep her away from me. I tried everything, I insulted her, I was a bastard to her, I scared her. I even acted like I wanted her dead. But the wench ignored me, kept at it, got through my chinks. I couldn't take her being scared of me, so I stopped threatening her. I couldn't take her crying, so I apologized and tried to comfort her. I apologized for Kami's sake- I never apologize, ever. I got used to having her around- too used to it.

"I told myself she meant nothing, she was only a shard detector. So I could let her stay. If we got the shards, I could finally change into something that couldn't curse everything it touched. I thought that if I didn't care, she wouldn't get hurt. But I couldn't ignore her.

"When Sesshomaru almost hurt her I realized what I'd almost done, how _I'd_ almost hurt her. Almost failed again. So I shoved her down the well and stuck a tree down it to keep her away.

"But she came back anyway, and like an idiot I was happy. She said she'd worried about me- do you get how weird that is? No one had worried about me since mother. Ever. Even Kikyo hadn't. The baka, how could I not want her back after that. So I gave up getting rid of her. I'm disgusting. I let her stay around because she made me feel better, knowing I'd just end up failing her like the other two. Knowing she'll end up leaving me like the other two.

"She leaves me all the time. All the damn time. She promised she'd stay with me, dammit! And every time I remember how I'm just wishing for her to get hurt when I want her to come back. But at least back home I can protect her; I can do something. I've tried to trick myself, that maybe if I didn't act like I cared if she was there or not, she wouldn't get cursed like the others. She might leave me in the end, but she'd be ok. What happens to me doesn't matter, so long as she's ok…

"But damn, it's hard to let her go. I need her now, who knows why. I fight like shit when she's not around. I _act_ like shit when she's not around. The hell if I know what I'd do without her.

"But I'm not supposed to be this weak: I'm strong enough to take care of myself. I always have been. Yeah, I fail everyone else who matters, but I'm not dead yet, and that took stuff no weak human's got. I know, I've seen them die from injuries that kept me down for a day. I'm made differently: I'm stronger, faster, better. I was alone for years before I met Kikyo, and I was fine. Hell, I'd have been fine and alone _after_ Kikyo if Kagome hadn't found me. It's not like it was all that surprising; no, that came out wrong. Kikyo-her betrayal-did surprise me, a hell of a lot. But it wasn't like I couldn't deal with it. I should be able to deal with it after Kagome's gone. I've got friends now, people who don't flinch at the sight of me, thanks to her. That's something inn'it? There's no reason for me to be so damn _weak_.

"But I am. I can't make her leave, can't keep her away. And I can't stop protecting her either. I can't go after Kikyo, because Kagome might hate me and I can't take that. Even if it was after I died, I can't take that.

"I need her to like me for me, like she said she did.

"I can't take it when she treats me like a dog, throwing a stick and saying fetch and all that crap. I can't take it when she sits me for defending her, for trying to protect her. I can't take it when she comes back here, when she gets sick, when she half-kills herself studying for these stupid 'exams'! I can't take it worse when she's nice to that idiot Hobo, or forgiving to the bouzo, and I sure as hell can't take it when she's all gooey to that wimpy wolf! Dammit, I just can't take any of it!

"Hell, she probably never even meant that in the first place, I was just being a damn idiot-

"What did she say?" Akiko could take no more herself.

"Huh?" He'd been so caught up, he'd actually forgotten about the Goshinboku, let alone Kagome's aunt.

"What. Did. She. Say. And don't lie, I'll be able to tell, it was in my training for this job." Another white lie, but hey, he didn't need to know that did he?

"She said she loved me as a half-demon." He muttered it softly, flushed, looking down at his feet.

"Saying it so quietly I can't hear won't work either. I'll find out eventually, either from you or from her if you don't tell me now."

That got his attention. He glared at her. "You wouldn't dare…"

"Watch me." She turned away calmly and strode purposefully towards the house.

"Teme! Get back here, I'll tell you alright!"

She stopped, but she didn't turn around. After a moment or two, she called back to make sure he understood what she meant by it. "I'm waiting to hear Inuyasha-kun- or did you change your mind so quickly already?"

He froze. She didn't actually mean for him to yell it across the courtyard so her pathetic human ears could pick it up, _did_ she? _Hell no_. So he leapt behind her, growling fiercely in an attempt to intimidate her (yet again) and thus get rid of her position as the one in charge (stopping the blackmailing would be good too), and snarled it quietly.

"She _said_ she loved me as a half-demon. Teme…" He flexed his claws.

"Hmm…Wonder why she'd say a thing like that," Akiko quipped sarcastically, but forced down her own tendencies for the sake of actually helping him. She'd _felt_ him flinch at that. It also didn't hurt in the ways of self-preservation- it seemed Kagome hadn't been lying about his violent side, and she had pushed him to the edge with her threats.

"Look, I know Kagome. You know her better than I do I'm sure. She's as far from cruel as you can get, and rarely dishonest. She wouldn't have said something like that if she hadn't meant it." She turned around, trying to appear placating.

"Keh. Stop pulling out that bullshit. It doesn't work on me. I know she wants me to stay half-demon, but it's because she doesn't want me to turn full-demon. Hell, she might even think I'd hurt her like that- I did last time, didn't I? I'm not going to go full demon, not with her still around anyway, but she doesn't know that."

Akiko could have ripped out her hair in frustration. Or better yet, his hair. It wasn't like he didn't have plenty to begin with, no one would ever notice…_Get a grip on yourself!_ she admonished her twitching hands. They promptly hid in her pockets, sulking. Turning back to him, she sighed. She knew it wouldn't be easy, and she'd agreed to do it. She couldn't give up now. She owed it to her sister, Kagome, even her pride at this point. So far she'd never had a patient she couldn't cure, but he was threatening that record._Patience, Akiko_ she reminded herself. _You can do this; it'll just take some time._

"Why don't we sit down? You're probably fine, but a 'weak human' like me gets sore feet and legs from standing so long." She made her tone mild, her face mild, her gesture towards the bench under the Goshinboku milder still. Now was not the time to antagonize him, she knew it instinctively. He may have seemed callous as could be before, but she was not fooled. He wanted Kagome to have meant it, and badly. Even if his voice didn't give it away, everything else did-even his ears drooped as he said it.

He glared suspiciously down at her._ What the hell is she trying to pull this time?_ She went from blackmailing to sarcastic to lying trying to comfort him to frustrated (he could tell that much from her scent) and now this? This, this, this oddity he had no name for, it was so strange to him? Her moods swung faster than Kagome's. Apparently it ran in the family. Careful not to make her change again, and cautious of this weird new emotion he couldn't define, he sat down on the other end of the bench from her. All his wondering flew out of his head when she spoke the next moment.

"Inuyasha-kun, my sister told me that the first time Kagome came home from the Feudal Era she was sobbing, she'd been so scared. But since then, she's never cried for that reason again. Has she encountered fewer demons since then?"

"Huh? Hell no, we fight more demons all the time." _What does she think we do, pick daisies all day?!_

"But they're not as bad as the first few?"

"I guess some of them aren't. The centipede teme didn't stay dead properly, she was stronger than the average ones we squish most of the time," he answered hesitantly. _Where the hell is she going now?_

She prayed to the gods of psychology to forgive her lapse of confidentiality-preemptive penance as it were. It wasn't a big lapse, and it was necessary, so perhaps her conscience would let her get away with it? "So this centipede youkai was worse than the Naraku she mentioned?"

"What!? Are you possessed or something? That centipede was gone in a few minutes, Naraku you can blow into a million pieces and it won't faze that bastard! He's the teme we've been fighting and hunting for months now, did she forget to mention that!?" He raged, livid at the mere utterance of the name, let alone the implication that his enemy should have been as easy, if not easier to vanquish than the weakling bug.

"Calm down Inuyasha-kun, I'm only trying to make a point."

"Keh. Baka wenches and their families…" he muttered darkly, less angry than sulky. She was only a stupid human after all, what did she know about youkai.

"The Feudal Era was full of bloody pointless wars among humans, wasn't it?" _Thank you, Kami-sama._ She managed to slip that bit in without breaking her ethics and admitting Kagome had told her as much. History had never been her strong subject, but it wasn't like the hanyou could know that.

"Uh, yeah, it is…"_What the hell does that have to do with anything?_ he wondered, his confusion overcoming his sulk.

"Have you ever been near any of the battles?"

He wracked his brains. He never paid much attention to the human wars, they were all so stupid and common anyway, they melted together too easily. "A few times maybe." He remembered fondly the first time he'd had Ramen, and (less fondly) how and why she hadn't joined him. "Mostly we run into the aftermath though."

"I'm sure the battlefields aregruesome though. Easy to scare most girls with scenes like those. Now why exactly hasn't she come home scared herself?"

"What?" Kagome, scared? Did she know who she was talking about? Kagome could be the scariest person he knew when she was angry, but she didn't get scared. Ever. He'd never met a braver human, not that he'd ever admit it.

"She was scared stiff the first time she came back, and you already told me how the demons that scared her then are small fry compared to what you're used to now, especially Naraku. Not to mention all the creepy battlefields with their gory corpses and skeletons. And yet she's not scared when she goes to the Sengoku Jidai, nor when she comes back here. Why?"

"Keh. Hell if I know why the baka was scared then and not now. She's never scared when I'm around-" He cut himself off. That was a lie; he could smell her fear that day she came back after he'd forced her down the well. "-not for herself anyway." He muttered it quietly, hoping she didn't go and make a big deal out of that too.

"Isn't that just it then? She isn't scared when you're around, not for herself. You make her feel safe. And as for fearing for others- you meant yourself, didn't you?"

So much for hoping she'd ignore it like she was supposed to. "One, she knows I'll always protect her. Why else would she feel safe when I was around? And as for being scared for me, she gets scared for everyone; she's a weeping worrying woman of the worst kind. You ought to know that, you're her aunt after all. Don't go making things more complicated than they are baka."

She sighed. Kami, he was stubborn. How else was she going to get this through his thick skull? Yet another proof shot down. If she didn't know any better she'd think he'd practiced it. Little would it surprise her to know that he had, in his own way. When Kagome was gone in the modern era (among other times, brooding was a favorite hobby of his), he often tried to figure out what she really felt for him. And successfully scorched his hopes to ash that only glowed again with her interference.

Akiko latched onto a new strategy. This had to work, she was desperate, she could only hold out so much longer...

"Does Kagome love her family?"

"Yeah…" he replied grudgingly. _What was she on about this time!_

"Does she care for her friends here?"

"Yes…" This time, a growl. She cared a bit too much for that Hobo 'friend' of hers for his liking…

"Does she enjoy all her modern luxuries? Showers, a bed, a roof, WacDonalds, and all those things like them?"

"Too damn much. She's always moaning about leaving them behind." Now his tone was guilty. He hated it when she complained; it made him feel like he'd failed in providing for her.

"Does she find the battlefields you encounter amusing or interesting?"

"Hell no! She thinks they're disgusting or gets angry if it's a recent one. Ok, so she gets angry both ways." He thought it out, despite it being an idiotic question. Had Kagome's aunt been dipping into the sake or something? She didn't smell like alcohol…

"Does she like fighting demons?"

"Nah, she stays on the sidelines most of the time. She's usually either worried or tries to get me to stop if it's that damn wolf."

"Then why does she go to the Feudal Era at all?"

"What the hell…" his eyes snapped at her, his claws flexing menacingly; _did that teme just say what I thought she said? It had better be the sake talking…_

She really needed to give up on her brutally honest, concise, and, most of all at this point, tactless questions. She gulped, then rushed to elaborate, not keen on figuring out how much stronger he was than most humans.

"She dislikes the wars and battles, she misses her family and friends and conveniences, she's definitely getting no satisfaction out of fighting all the time- people don't do things they don't like. Why is she still doing this? What's there that she likes so much that it outweighs the rest?"

"Don't try to trick me again teme. She stays because it's her fault the Shikon no Tama was split in the first place; it's her duty to get the shards back together. She may not like it, but it's not like she's got a choice." _When will she damn quit already? _Did she really think he hadn't already thought of this stuff?

When would he get this through his mind!_ Such a stubborn baka! Bakabakabashi really. _She persisted despite it. She could be stubborn too. "You really think she couldn't convince herself it was all a dream (nightmare) and forget about it and never come back?"

"I wouldn't let her forget, baka. I can come over here too, how else am I talking to you?"

_Shot down again. Arrgh!_ Her hands started twitching _again,_ and it was all she could do to keep from pulling out those forelocks of his. _New tactic, new angle!_ she ordered herself. Thank Kami, she found one, even if it teased the line drawn by her ethics.

"Why doesn't she do it with this Kouga-kun then?" Remembering where her blunt questions had gotten her before (anticipating claws at her neck), she fleshed it out quickly. "He acts more kindly to her than you, even flatters her, and I'm sure as a full youkai he has the strength to get back the shards as well as you do. If it's only her duty keeping her in the Sengoku Jidai, why doesn't she travel with him instead? There's got to be some reason she prefers travelling with you."

"Keh. She just knows I wouldn't let her leave is all-"

"You, you, you _baka_!"

She couldn't take it anymore: Socratic Method to hell, he wasn't figuring out the truth on his own, he'd probably never recognize it if it was dancing around naked with lavender perfume, so it seemed she'd just have to shove it in his face.

"She has the rosary; if she wanted to leave you for Kouga-kun she could at any time! She stays because she cares about you! Why else would she kiss you to save you from yourself, risking her life! Why else would she have come back that day after you shoved her away! Why else would she stay with you and not Kouga! Why else would she not be scared, or continue the quest, or damn well say she loved you as a half-demon!"

Inuyasha was a bit taken aback, but his issues reasserted themselves in a different form, almost instantaneously. They were reminiscent of a hydra; as soon as you chopped down one inner demon, nine more would grow back in its place, rearing their heads in a fury.

"She shouldn't care about me; I'll just end up hurting her like all the others! I'll just end up losing her! I don't deserve her; I'm a filthy good-for-nothing hanyou! I'll just fail her again! I should just leave and not let her come back- it's the only thing that'll save her-!"

"Shut up and listen to me you baka. You are not cursed, everyone you care about is not going to die, and your mother's and Kikyou's deaths had nothing to do with you. Your mother died because she got sick and in the Feudal Era there's hardly a thing you can do for sick people- not to mention the fact that her only helper was a five year old. Five year olds don't cure colds, trust me. As for Kikyou, that has everything to do with Naraku and the jewel and nothing to do with you." She paused to take a breath, and thankfully he didn't interrupt again, he was too busy listening, albeit with a fierce scowl.

"You're not filthy for being a hanyou, you said yourself how it makes you strong but that as a demon you're crazy. You're better off this way. And Kagome even said she loved you as a half-demon too- you really think that translates to 'I think you're filth'?" He looked away; she couldn't tell if he still scowled, but his ears were still trained on her, so she figured he was still listening. Maybe he'd answer later? So she continued.

"And if you do leave and force her to stay here, it will be worse than any violent death she might find in the Sengoku Jidai. She cares about you Inuyasha-kun; she cares too much to let you go. It would be like ripping out her heart, a slow painful death if you forced her away. It would be the worst thing you could ever do to her, that anyone could ever do to her."

She sighed. Hopefully that had been the fire to burn the stumps of the hydra's heads. If it wasn't, she was going to have to give up for the moment. She couldn't think of any other way to convince him, and she was so exhausted from the mental marathon of attempting to help him in the first place…She examined him for a reaction when he didn't speak up.

Inuyasha looked, for lack better words, shocked to the core and very thoughtful. He looked like his world had been shaken (which it had more or less); like the world he'd lived on had been just a stage for some dark-skied tragedy, a stage he'd believed real, a stage Akiko had burned down for him, and now he was finally seeing the sun and blue heavens and couldn't believe his luck. He finally looked up at her, noticing that she was staring at him intently.

He'd learned to tell with humans if they were being honest by their scent. He sniffed: she wasn't lying. But how could that be?

Slowly a grin spread over his features. She must be telling the truth.

Seeing his smile, Akiko grinned in response. Getting up of the bench she said: "I think my work here is done. See you in the morning Inuyasha-kun."

Turning away, she quickly got to the door to the house. Just as she opened it, she heard something. It was so quiet it could have been her imagination, but she thought it wasn't. This is what she heard:

"Arigatou."

* * *

**A/N:** Yay! I got over my writer's block, finally. I seriously had about a third of this written two weeks ago, I just had no clue where to go from there…I am sorry, but I'm not going to post something that's not even halfway done! If it makes you feel better, karma got me for making you wait and had me semi-comatose and miserable for the past few days with a nasty virus. Cough still hasn't gone away, evil thing. I made it extra long as a bit of recompense- I hope you like it and can forgive me for making you wait!

Oh, and thank you to everyone who shared their thoughts on adding a third perspective to this chapter- it was kind of you, and I did consider it seriously, but in the end it really was pretty long with just the two of them, I couldn't add even more without worrying that readers would lose interest. If you want more detailed reasons, please ask, I've got plenty, I've just spent enough time on this chapter (and author's note) as is and I want it posted.


	7. Chapter 7

**Ch 7 **The Power of Suggestion…

* * *

"Ohayou, onee-chan…" Akiko mumbled as she slumped into a chair at the kitchen table. She really had to figure out how to sleep in one of these days…

"Ohayou Akiko-chan. How are you feeling? You look exhausted." Mrs. Higurashi responded, looking back at her sister from her position at the stove where she was cooking breakfast. The two women were alone in the kitchen, given the early hour, and felt free to speak frankly.

"That's because I _am_ exhausted. Do you realize I went to sleep after 2 last night?"

"Why did you do that? And why didn't you at least sleep in afterwards?" Mrs. Higurashi asked, confused.

"Argh…I've gotten so used to my work schedule, always getting up at a certain time despite how late I've gone to bed, that I can't seem to break it. Kami knows how I wish I could…As for why I did it, _that_ should be obvious. I was busy helping those screwed up teenagers of yours of course!"

Mrs. Higurashi smiled ruefully to herself. Same old Akiko, always complaining about work no matter how much she enjoyed it and how important it was to her. And always grumpy in the morning.

"You do know that you could've waited to finish till today, right? One more day wouldn't have made that much difference."

"Shut up. How do you know it wouldn't have made a difference? Who's the one with the psychology degree here again?" Akiko growled, quite put out at that realization. Why on earth had she tried to finish it all in one night? Because she was a perfectionist and couldn't go to sleep if she felt like she'd hadn't finished something properly. Oh yeah…

Mrs. Higurashi merely chuckled. She'd asked for it, teasing her sister like that, when she obviously wasn't in the mood. She relented, putting aside the sisterly entertainment she got from their banter, and switched back into mom mode.

"So, did you manage to help them?"

"Of course I 'managed to help them'. Are you in doubt of my abilities?" Akiko huffed, offended.

Mrs. Higurashi stifled her good-natured laughter yet again. Akiko would take it the wrong way for sure, with the state she was in. Funny how she was so good at getting into other people's heads while on the job, but was always misinterpreting things otherwise.

"No, no, I'm not. Let me rephrase my question: how did it go?"

That wording was acceptable to her ego, and so Akiko deigned to answer somewhat civilly.

"It took a bit of convincing with Kagome, but wasn't too difficult. All her issues connected with him, so I didn't need to do much deep analysis to figure them out-they were pretty plain to see once I got her talking. I finished in a fairly reasonable amount of time-3 hours or so I believe. As for Inuyasha-kun…"

"Yes, how did it go with him? He's not very open to talking about himself, so I was worried he might refuse to let you help him at all. He can be very stubborn at times from what Kagome's told me."

"I'll say. You have no idea of how hard he tried to get out of it-even subconsciously, before he knew why I was talking to him in the first place. Not to mention how many inner demons he really had…You know I can't give you details, but suffice to say that it took me from five to six hours with him. I think I reached him in the end though."

"That's wonderful! So are you done?"

"Well that all depends on them doesn't it? They can't get over these issues unless they really want to. I've gotten them to the point where they're on the edge of a resolution, they just have to take the last step. It's a bit delicate though, so I'd appreciate it if you and Dad and Souta just let them be for the next few days, until it's clear that they've gotten past that point-Why are you looking at me like that?"

Akiko broke suddenly from her long-winded explanation to stare suspiciously at her sister's guilty face.

"Well, the thing is Akiko-chan, Dad already-"

"Ji-chan did what already?" Kagome asked innocently as she entered the kitchen. Mrs. Higurashi scrambled for something else to tell her. If Kagome didn't know about the sutra yet, she'd better keep it from her as long as possible. From Akiko's description, it seemed it wasn't as harmless as she'd thought, with her daughter so 'delicate' psychologically.

"D-dad already swept the shrine yesterday, before Akiko-chan came, so I was just telling her how she can't do it after all. I guess we'll have to find something else for you to help us out with!" Mrs. Higurashi smiled big, hoping her cheerfulness would help make up for the abysmal nature of her lie.

Akiko silently groaned behind Kagome's back. Could her onee-chan be any more obvious? And now she had to go on with the absurd thing too. Double groan.

"Oh well," Akiko began with false melancholy. "And I was so hoping to be able to help out like I used to. Sweeping always was my favorite chore."

Fortunately Kagome didn't catch the sarcasm, bored enough by the conversation to stop paying attention altogether. Akiko and Mrs. Higurashi sighed in relief as the girl absentmindedly began to dig into her breakfast.

But before they could properly relax, Inuyasha entered as well. Akiko and Mrs. Higurashi went tense, abruptly cutting off their attempts to mime a conversation around Kagome's oblivious head.

Inuyasha glanced once at Kagome, blushed, then looked away, and busied himself getting food, trying to hide his embarrassment. He'd spent the rest of the night before mulling over what Akiko had said, what it all meant, teasing out every nook and cranny of her argument. He'd found it sound, to his surprise, but still felt very tentative about testing the psychologist's theories regarding Kagome's feelings. Sure, he finally accepted that it was all right to care for her as much as he did, that he might not be cursed after all, that he might be able to stay with her without hurting her, but that didn't mean he was positive of Kagome's affections. That bit just seemed too good to be true; so he wasn't going to kill her by association, so what-he still wouldn't deserve her.

Kagome, for her part, tried to hide her own blush as he entered. She gazed intently at her breakfast as if she hadn't even noticed his arrival, and so missed his own shy glances in her direction. She had spent a similar night, considering and evaluating her aunt's words, not daring to hope that it could be true. Could it be that he thought of her as more than a shard-detector? Could it be that he didn't stay with her because she reminded him of Kikyou? Could he really see her for who she was, and prefer her to the other miko? After spending so much time convincing herself of her inferiority to her incarnation in his eyes, of him going off to see her, it was hard to believe it all, no matter what her aunt said.

Akiko, gave up on finding out Ji-chan's latest antics with two others in the room, and so settled down to observe her patients critically. The tension was thick, just as it had been at dinner the night before, but also not like that dinner at all. The stress hanging in the air here was of a different kind, and it was obvious that their silence stemmed from very different reasons. This was not the presence of two people furious with one another; it was more that of hesitancy, of not knowing what to say, not daring to try anything for the moment, for fear of ruining what might be. She noted the change with approval. Fine, so they still weren't talking to each other, and to many it would seem that her interference hadn't the slightest effect. But the atmosphere was as far from the last meal as could be, and she felt hopeful for their relationship. Now if only she could get them to actually look at one another, maybe even try saying something-even a good morning would be a welcome sign.

As if reading her mind, Inuyasha grunted, finally breaking the tension. He stared at Kagome for a moment, then looked down again as her face finally rose, unable to meet her gaze.

"Kagome…We need to talk."

Kagome stared openly at him for a moment in surprise, then glanced in Akiko's direction as if to say: 'What?! I thought you said he liked me!'

Akiko rolled her eyes and mouthed: 'Do you really think he knows that's the stereotypical breakup line in the modern era? He's from the Sengoku Jidai, he doesn't have a clue what that means beyond the literal!'

Kagome mouthed a small o, looked down sheepishly, then looked up again; this time, instead of anger, her gaze radiated hope. 'Then does that mean…'

Akiko smiled and nodded in encouragement, mouthing 'go for it', all grouchiness forgotten. Kagome took a deep breath, and turned back to the nervous hanyou sitting across from her.

"All right Inuyasha. I just finished eating anyway, let's go." She got up from the table, but missed the relieved expression that crossed over his face, distracted by her brother's appearance.

"Go where?" Souta asked, wary. He still hadn't found a way to get that sutra off, and until he did he had to make sure no one else knew about it.

"Well, Inuyasha and I were just going to talk, in my room I guess…" Kagome answered, a little shyly at first, but forgot it in a moment at her brother's terrified expression. "What's wrong Souta?"

"You can't talk in there," he answered bluntly.

"Why not? It's _my_ room after all." Kagome got a bit defensive; she was the elder after all, who was Souta to tell her what she could or couldn't do?

"Well…Because…You just can't ok!" Souta was flustered, his eyes darting back and forth, searching for some proverbial escape from her scrutiny.

"Souta…If you don't give me a reason for all of this soon…" Kagome started, a threatening tone to her voice.

"There is a reason! I swear there is!"

"Then _tell_ me it, baka." Kagome answered, exasperated beyond belief. Here she was on the verge of maybe possibly finally fixing things between her and Inuyasha, and she couldn't because her brother of all people was being a complete and utter idiot.

He looked imploringly at his mother for help, but received none. Mrs. Higurashi, thinking that Kagome was acting like her old self again, and that there was no way for Inuyasha to recognize the sutra, decided that her daughter had gotten past the 'delicate stage' Akiko had mentioned, and so it wouldn't matter.

Not hearing an adequate excuse, Kagome shoved past her brother and left the kitchen, a confused Inuyasha in her wake. The whole way up the stairs Souta was pulling at her, tugging at her, practically begging her to turn back, all to no avail. In fact, Kagome only got more determined the longer he tried, almost dragging him along as she came closer and closer to her bedroom door.

The hanyou watched it all, trying to figure out why the runt was so desperate to keep them from talking. It was odd, usually the kid was on his side, but he was acting totally against his suggestion this time. He grew nervous-was it that Souta didn't want him to get along with his sister better? Did he know that he wasn't good enough for her? But the kid had been calling him his older brother for almost as long as he'd known him, had been hero-worshipping him for just as long. It just didn't make any sense...

Then Inuyasha caught sight of the small piece of paper stuck to the door, and everything clicked. Miroku had shown him the same exact sutra only the other day, explaining it as an attempt to get Sango to be more 'friendly' towards him. He'd scoffed, and called the monk a hopeless hentai as usual, but seeing it now, pasted on Kagome's bedroom door of all places-he began to sweat. Kagome was sure to think he'd put it there, that he was the hentai she always accused him of being if she recognized it-and how could she not, she lived in a shrine after all, her grandfather was a priest-his thoughts dissolved in a mess of disconnected ploys to escape the situation, the image of an Inuyasha-shaped crater in the ground foremost in his mind. She would sit him to hell and back for this one, he was sure.

Seeing his sister stiffen, Souta made himself scarce, an apologetic glance at Inuyasha his way of parting. It was cruel to leave his hero to hang and dry like this, but his own life had to come first. Besides, Inuyasha was tough, he'd survive. Probably.

For her part, Kagome had been too angry with Souta to think much of why he was trying to keep her away after his initial failures to explain himself. She regretted that the moment she got to her door, noticing the white rectangle for the first time. She groaned inwardly. Why oh why couldn't she have just trusted her brother? Why couldn't she have just asked to talk to Inuyasha outside instead? Things were finally making sense to her, and now this had to come. It just wasn't fair! When she found Ji-chan (there was no doubt in her mind that he was the guilty party) she would burn all of his millions of sutras in a glorious bonfire of vengeance. But until that happy time could come, she had to do damage control. Hopefully Inuyasha wouldn't know what it was, but she couldn't take the chance of giving it away, so she focused on behaving as normally as possible.

Too bad she was more transparent than polished crystal.

"So, er, shall we?" She walked up to the door a bit hesitantly, sending a fake smile in Inuyasha's direction to try and hide her inner turmoil as she turned the knob.

Gulping, Inuyasha nodded. So far, it didn't seem like she'd noticed…She didn't seem angry, although she was acting strangely. Suddenly he got ten times more nervous. No…It couldn't be…Not, not, not _that_. It just couldn't!

As he warily entered the room, Inuyasha's worst suspicions and fears were confirmed. Kagome shut the door behind him, took his hand, and led him to the bed.

But it was. Utter terror filled him. How was he ever going to get out of this one?

Kagome sighed in exasperation as he froze beside her. Honestly, what was so wrong about her holding his hand? Especially if he did like her the way Akiko said he did. This wasn't another one of those things that fell under the category of 'expressing feelings,' was it? Or was it that Akiko had been wrong to begin with, and he felt awkward right now because he didn't think of her that way at all? Doubt filled her, and she looked up at him with a hurt expression.

"Inuyasha?" She didn't know what else to say; he'd said they needed to talk, but it seemed now that all he wanted was to get as far from her as possible. She involuntarily squeezed his hand, trying to make him stay.

Inuyasha groaned inwardly. What the hell was he going to do!? Here she was, so sweet, so beautiful, so vulnerable, so innocent…It was all he could do to resist his own hormones, which had decided to launch an attack at this most inopportune of moments. This wasn't right at all, she wasn't herself, he couldn't, he couldn't do a thing, this was the completely wrong time and place! Terror gripped him, both of what she might do then and later when she was normal, and what he might not be able to keep himself from doing in the here and now.

The squeeze to his hand was too much to take. He had to do something, dammit!

"Maybe we should talk somewhere else…" He tried to pull his hand away, but her hold only tightened.

"But you can't leave!" If he left, he might catch sight of the sutra! She couldn't let that happen. She scrambled for some excuse, some explanation of her behavior, which even she realized seemed odd at this point.

"We're not going to get privacy in the Feudal Era with Miroku and Sango and the others, and this is the only place my family won't try to spy on us-don't you see, if we're going to do this, it has to be here." She knew she couldn't lie to him, so answered with the truth. Part of it anyway, although she didn't explain her vehemence. Unfortunately, he had his own explanation for that, one that was currently terrifying him.

Inuyasha's mind went into overdrive. There was no denying it any longer, the sutra really was acting on her. It probably didn't have such an effect on him because of his demon heritage, but just having her act in such a way was enough to get his blood to boil despite it-

"Unless of course you don't _want_ to…" Kagome murmured, her expression altogether a study of dejection.

"Kagome-Well-It's not that, that I don't want to, it's just that this is, well…"

He stammered, desperate for a solution. If he left now, she'd think he was rejecting her. But if he stayed, it would only be a matter of time until the sutra had its way with the both of them, and the consequences of that were too dire for him to really comprehend. _Shit…_he thought, completely at a loss.

"Look Inuyasha, don't feel like you have to do this out of pity for me. That's the last thing I want. Just go."

She pulled her hand away, looked away, turned her whole body away. Sutra or not, she couldn't bear to keep him with her, when he so obviously wanted nothing more than to get away.

"Whaa?" What was she saying? Was this some new ploy of Kagome's poor sutra-controlled mind, trying to make him feel guilty for her confusion? He narrowed his eyes suspiciously at her. "What the hell are you talking about, wench?"

She turned back to him, eyes aflame with fury, for all that they also leaked tears. Didn't he get the hint, the baka? Why was he staying, reminding her even more that he just wanted to leave? At least when he wasn't around, she could pretend it wasn't because that was the way he preferred it.

"I'm telling you to leave! I'm telling you that I'm not interested in talking to you! It's obvious you meant it yesterday, you still don't want to be anywhere near me, you're only here because my aunt made you, out of pity or something like that. Don't you get it, I'm not interested in that, Inuyasha. So go. Now. I can't take you forcing yourself to stay near me any longer."

Her words were like a cold bath to his raging blood, and so he could finally get some actual thinking done, and some necessary decisions made. Item number one: Inuyasha silently vowed to destroy on sight all such sutras in the future. Apparently they had the power to cause their victims pain, not to mention serious lapses of sanity. How else could she believe such lies? Item number 2: seeing that it was impossible to reason with her at this point, he decided to take action, as he should have done from the very beginning.

He stood up and started purposefully towards the door, so innocent-looking from the back. _Enough is enough_…he growled to himself. _This ends now._

Kagome, seeing his reaction, just watched him, her expression frozen in the same angry pain as before. She couldn't believe it-she might have been insisting it, practically ordering him to do it, and angry when he didn't comply at once, but now that he really was leaving, she was in shock. _I guess some bit of me still thought he would stay…_she mused cynically to herself.

Still frozen, she watched as he swiftly strode out of the room, closing the door firmly behind him. Her consciousness, detached as she watched him go, suddenly slammed back into her body as the door shut. Sobs shook her form, and still sitting on the bed she curled into a tight ball, hugging her knees to her chest, her face buried in her arms, her eyes screwed shut, trying to hold back the tears. He really had been there only out of pity…He really didn't care for her the way she had always hoped he did…

He really hadn't wanted to talk.

Inuyasha was busy trying to figure out some way to get the damn thing off without gouging the door with his claws. He didn't bother trying to peel it off; it was obviously a powerful thing by the immediate effect it had on the otherwise modest Kagome, and liable to purify him should he dare to touch it. Having undergone the experience before, Inuyasha knew it wouldn't kill him, but would be extremely unpleasant, and so he saved that as a last resort. Meanwhile he found the plastic knife Souta had been using, and set to scraping the damn thing off. Too bad it wouldn't budge…

It seemed to be laminated or covered in something, to keep the knife from marring its surface. Still he chipped and stabbed at it, nicking and scratching the surrounding wood in the process. He'd have to apologize to the Higurashi's later, for now Kagome needed to be saved from this monstrosity. He bit his lip to stifle the growl as he caught the scent of her tears, flooding from the room almost as soon as he'd left. He had to focus, he had to get rid of this thing, before something irrevocable happened. Like him getting Kagome pregnant, as this damn sutra seemed so intent on. Even now, with him outside the room itself, it seemed to mock and influence him; it refused to give in to his attacks, and sent the scent of Kagome's sadness to torture him. It seemed to say: _'Defeating me is impossible. Why not give in, comfort the girl, you know you want to.'_

Inuyasha shook his head violently; such thoughts had no place there. _Just focus on demolishing this damn paper_, he reminded himself. _That's what really matters now._

He was going to have one hell of a time doing it though.

* * *

In the kitchen the floor below, Akiko caught the sound of scritching and scratching, an occasional faint whine or growl interspersed. She looked around, confused for a moment; it sounded like some unhappy dog scratching at a door to be let in; but that was impossible, her sister didn't have any dogs, just the lazy cat, Buyo. She turned to ask her sister what stray had begun plaguing them, but was distracted by more important things (or so she thought) immediately.

Souta was leaving the room just as she looked up-finally, she had the chance to find out what absurdity her dad had pulled off this time. Never mind the tramp outside, Souta could deal with him.

"Onee-chan! What were you saying earlier about Dad?" she prompted her sister. A feeling of foreboding came over her; "Don't tell me he went and ruined all of my work from last night trying to purify Inuyasha or something ridiculous like that…"

"Oh no, not at all. In fact, he's done pretty much the opposite," Mrs.Higurashi paused to giggle for a moment.

"Huh? You can't seriously mean he's _helped_ them somehow by his interference?"

"Well, I wouldn't go that far, but he certainly was trying to. He'll probably take all the credit for himself if they do get together in the end." At her sister's slightly offended look, she rushed to assure her: "Don't worry, everyone else knows it's entirely thanks to you. Just let him think it was him to make him happy, ne?"

"All right, all right, I know what you mean, I won't fuss over it. What did he do though? I'd still rather like to know, even if it is of no importance."

"Oh. Well," Mrs.Higurashi collapsed into chuckles once more, needing several deep breaths to calm down again. "He, he stuck a fertility sutra on Kagome's bedroom door."

"What?! When!?" What was wrong with her sister-how could that be helpful, the two of them had so much tension between them as it was, that was like throwing a keg of gun powder at them!

And all it took was one spark for all her work to be destroyed…

Mrs.Higurashi blanched, surprised at her tone. Had she done something wrong not helping Souta earlier? "Last night, while you were talking to her I think. Why, does it matter after all? You know it won't work…"

"How could it not matter! How could you not notice the physical attraction between them, and the subsequent awkwardness and absurd fights to relieve the tension! Argh! I thought you took some psychology courses in college, didn't you learn any Freud at all? It doesn't need to work-the power of suggestion-especially of _that_-is the worst thing possible for them right now-this is going to ruin everything I've done for them-do you not know what the word 'delicate' mea-?!"

Akiko was on a rampage, the thought of her hard work being destroyed by one little piece of paper withering her already short patience in an instant. What cut her off was the sound of desperate sobs, emanating from the floor above, and the return of the whines and growls. The curse words mixed in let both women in to the reality that it was no mutt begging at the door. Both looked upward, Mrs. Higurashi worried and guilty, Akiko frustrated and angry.

Both also held the look of sadness in their eyes. It seemed things never could go right for that couple after all.

"I'm guessing that 'delicate stage' just got broken."

"Yep. There's hell to pay now."

* * *

**A/N**: Hehehe…Wait, you thought Akiko's work was done? Hate to break it to you, but-no. It isn't. It would be way too easy if I just had them get together all perfect after the last chapter-besides, what would I have done with the sutra then? Why would I have bothered including it at all?

Sorry this took me so long to post, I've had a crazy couple of weeks. I'm on break right now though, so I should be posting more often in general, although I can't promise that it will always be this story. Hope you enjoyed that half as much as I did…


	8. Chapter 8

**Ch 8 **Some Help from Lady Luck, Lady Akiko, and…le gasp! Lady Sutra?

* * *

"What the hell do you think you're doing?!"

"Wha-?" Inuyasha turned around in surprise; he'd been so focused on that little slip of paper, he hadn't even noticed anyone coming. _Damn thing…_

To find Akiko of all people standing there. Idiot human, what the hell did she think _she _was doing-he was busy damnit, that sutra wasn't going to peel itself off! He growled, to deter her from interfering, so he could get back to work, his duty: protect Kagome. A fresh bout of sobs from the room within had him wincing and turning back before Akiko could get another word in.

"Oi, Inuyasha-kun, listen to me!" Akiko insisted, as soon as she realized he wasn't going through the door as she'd hoped.

He kept diligently clawing at the sutra, refusing to stop this time, but the ear he twitched in her direction let her know he heard. The tense set of his shoulders also let her know he disapproved.

_Damn woman, doesn't she realize that whatever she says doesn't matter right now? Some fancy talk isn't going to help anyone this time-_

"Get in there and comfort that girl, you baka!"

That got him to turn around.

He gaped at her, thinking he'd imagined it; she hadn't actually said that, had she? It had to be the sutra, it had to be getting stronger or something, deluding him into thinking that Kagome's family would give him permission, condone such an act-finally he found his voice.

"You…actually…want me to…do _that_ to her?! What the hell is wrong with you! Even if I _did_ want to-I mean, not that I do-or, not that it'd be bad later, after a while-but-" Inuyasha started off deadly quiet, built up, and then fell out of his roar rather pitifully with a blush to make any giggling schoolgirl proud and a stammer to match. He was cut off by the merciful, if still furious, Akiko.

"Inuyasha, that is nothing more than a piece of paper with writing on it. You might not realize this, but my father-Kagome's Jii-chan-has absolutely no holy powers whatsoever. I'm telling you to go in there and talk to her, maybe hold her hand or something; not _that, _as you so eloquently put it."

Seeing that he finally understood (and the waves of relief it brought him) the sadistic part of her couldn't help but add dryly, looking off to the side in as nonchalant a manner as possible: "Somehow though, I don't think Kagome's mother would have been all that upset if you had…She's rather keen on grandchildren you know…"

Inuyasha blushed again. Hard. But other than that, (and the mysterious twitch in his temple) he showed no sign of having heard the last comments. Instead, he focused on the more immediate issues: he wasn't exactly the paragon of emotional reassurance, and he didn't think he could stand to hear her cry another minute.

"Er…How?"

"How what?" Akiko (who'd just been able to contain her amusement with the tic at his forehead) broke from her reverie in surprise.

"How do I…'comfort her'…without, without-"

Her gaze turned sympathetic. "Without making it worse?" Poor guy, he really was trying so hard…

He nodded, too embarrassed to speak. He was, after all, as his pride pointed out to him, asking help from a human woman…

"Just be honest."

He stared at her, waiting for more. There was no way it could be that easy, that simple.

Seeing his disbelief, she elaborated. "I could tell you all sorts of phrases and clichés to try to get your message across, but you'd probably either hate them or not understand them-and either way, it wouldn't work. But she does like you for who you are, so you shouldn't have to try to be someone you're not to make her feel better…I don't know why she's crying, but that would be my advice in any situation-it saves so much hassle and misunderstandings…"

Finally brought back to reality from her ramble, she saw the door swing shut, a glimmer of silver through the crack, and heard a last parting remark just before the lock clicked: "Keep the Ji-jii alive so I can have a go. Other than that, do what you want to him."

Akiko grinned to herself. It seemed he'd noticed her underlying anger somehow-she'd never fathom how (conveniently forgetting the uncharacteristic way she'd started the conversation, and the simple fact that Inuyasha's nose knows), but it made her feel better all the same.

Sending a mock salute to the door, she finally went in search of that delinquent father of hers, sweet revenge her driving goal.

_Keep him alive huh…That shouldn't be too hard…_

* * *

"Kagome?" Inuyasha warily stepped forward. He froze, shocked. He'd heard her crying, smelled the salt…But he'd never really expected it to be this bad…

She lay on her side on her bed, curled up into something resembling the fetus position. Her hair fell limp across her shoulders, her face buried in the pillow clutched in her white-knuckled hands, her limbs shaking with the sobs. Every now and then one of her legs would make a feeble kick away from herself, only to drag back in, tighter to her form than it was to begin with. She'd tense, then go limp; stretch, as if to get up, then collapse in on herself. The window was open, as usual, but the stiff morning breeze was obviously chilling her-he could see even from across the room the goosebumps that stood out on her skin. She didn't seem to have the motivation to get up and close it. She didn't seem to have the motivation to do anything at all…

_Shit…_

What the hell was he going to do?

He tensed, his instincts telling him to run. Who was he kidding, he'd just make her cry more, it was bullshit to think otherwise-she was cold, sad, angry, probably at him, he deserved it-

Wait-

_What the hell am I thinking?! Hell, I know I suck at this kind of thing, but, but,…but I'm not going to stop protecting her for something as stupid as that! Just, just…just start with the simple…_

She was cold.

He could do something about that.

He might have been the biggest asshole that ever lived-but he could take care of her body.

Even if he routinely broke her heart, he could do something about this.

And damn him if he gave up now.

Walking slowly, so as not to alarm her, he approached the bed. Carefully, he draped his haori over her shoulders.

He'd have liked to close the window as well, but if he did, there was no telling what the concentration of her scent all bottled up around him would do to him, and he wasn't taking chances.

He was going to fix this.

* * *

"Mmm…I have to remember to ask that daughter of mine to get more of this sake next time she goes to the store…It's excellent!"

Jii-chan took another sip of the remarkable liquid, oblivious to the stomps and mild curses that should have alerted him to the approach of that other daughter of his.

Slam.

Jii-chan finally looked up, startled. And ready to lecture whomever had dared to violate the peace of the morning.

He was disgruntled to find, not one of his grandchildren, but an older generation; that darn girl, she ought to know better by now!

Completely missing the anger on her face (or not caring; it was difficult to tell sometimes with him), he began his own rant.

"Really, Akiko, you should know the respect due your elders by now! I'm shocked at you, so wantonly disturbing the pleasant quiet of the house so early! It's absolutely inconsiderate! Why, when I was your age my father would have-"

He was cut off rather abruptly by Akiko's voice, cold, low, deadly calm. It didn't happen often that she was angry and quiet at the same time; finally he got the tip off that she wasn't pleased about something.

He soon learned what.

"Dearest father," her voice oozed sarcasm "first off, it's not early. It's almost midday.

"Second, there has been no peace left to be disturbed this morning for over a half hour.

"Third, the one responsible for shattering that peace, that 'pleasant quiet' as you called it, is you, not me." She paused to take a slow, deep, ominous breath…then the damn broke, the trigger clicked, and hell was let loose.

"I gave you all explicit instructions to not interfere with my work-and what did you do? You nearly ruined it! You should have heard the crying and cursing! I wouldn't be surprised if I have to start all over again-those two will never find peace after what you've done-to think that you had the nerve, the absolute nerve to meddle in this-it will be a miracle if they can look each other in the face ever again, let alone get together as a couple-I can't even imagine what you were thinking-what on earth possessed you to make you do something so stupid-"

It dawned on Jii-chan that she was angry at him about something. Now if only he knew what…

"-and of all the sutras you had to pick, among the thousands I'm sure you have in your collection, you just _had_ to pick a _fertility_ one-"

Ah. So that was it. Poor delusional girl, why was she raving about that? Best to bring her to her senses before she hurt herself.

"Now see here Akiko, I knew perfectly well what I was doing when I selected that sutra-many misunderstand how to properly use sutras, it's nothing to be ashamed of. I shall explain it for you-it is the general intent of sutras, not their typical uses that define their effects-"

"You 'knew perfectly well what you were doing'?! And are you saying you _wanted_ them to have a child?! For Kami's sakes, she's 16, that's not how it's done any more Dad, and you should know that-"

"Again, you assume, as so many others do, that because most use that particular sutra to encourage conception, that is the only thing it is good for-"

"Dad! Listen to me! It doesn't matter what you thought it _should_ do, the second those two caught sight of it all hell broke loose-"

"Don't you take that tone with me missy! You might have your fancy degrees but you're still my daughter-"

By this point in the joyous conversation both their faces were burnt brick-red from anger and frustration, eyes smoldering, brows furrowed. They leaned across the table towards one another; Jii-chan's chair had been pushed back with a pained screech across the tiles, and both had palms almost ironed to the table's surface, knuckles white, tendons taught. One of Jii-chan's hands jerked in a disapproving shake of the finger, although it had resorted more to prods and violent, energetic gestures with the intensity of the 'discussion'. The volume had crept up slowly, almost imperceptibly, from a deadly murmur to a full blasting foghorn, each participant raising their own voice more with each comment, straining to have _their_ position heard amongst the din.

The cacophony was horrendous; it was no wonder Mrs. Higurashi and Souta had escaped to the relative safety of outside the home; and if Kagome and Inuyasha hadn't already been so absorbed in their own troubles they too might have felt that urge to get out of the danger zone, in fear of the cross-fire. There was enough from the very beginning to even get through Inuyasha's preoccupation with Kagome, giving him more confidence, knowing that some revenge was being taken care of at least.

The 'discussion' had officially become a battle royal, and it inspired like its legendary counterparts.

* * *

Kagome stiffened as she felt the rough, warm cloth fall over her-it wasn't till she picked out the pine and, more importantly, distinct masculine musk to it that she realized what it was: his haori. She relaxed-then tensed again. Why would his haori be covering her? He'd left, hadn't he? She didn't dare to look up and find out, too fearful that it wasn't real, that she'd imagined it, that someone else had draped the cloth so carefully over her. But it was such a truly Inuyasha thing to do-how could it not be him?

She remembered the first time he'd done it-she'd known him a scant few days, had finally managed to get home only to be dragged back with him again. She'd been angry and resentful, wishing she could just stay home where she felt she belonged. More than that, she'd been scared of the danger on the other side, whether she'd ever see her family again, whether she'd ever come home again-but then his haori had come over her. She'd known at once-although it had seemed too good to be true-that she would be all right in the end; she'd known that he would do his best to protect her, even to the point of giving up his own armor for her sake.

The gesture had touched her then, and she'd never forgotten that moment; the situation, the fear and worry easing away, the feeling of safety swelling through the caress of the comfortable, if coarse fabric. The smell and feel of it now, the same as before, conjured up the moment before her as nothing else could. She imagined she could even hear his low, rough voice, explaining his uncharacteristic action, the insult to hide his real concern-wait a minute…that's not what the voice was saying…

Kagome realized with a jolt that it was Inuyasha speaking in her room, in the present-not in the well-house in her memory. She listened with bated breath, too apprehensive (and not a little confused) to speak up herself.

"Oi, Kagome…Look, I don't know what the hell I did wrong this time, but…I'm sorry ok? I didn't mean to-to do anything to hurt you."

He paused, trying to figure out if she'd heard, and to get up the nerve to continue. He'd thought it so easy at the time, but he'd realized the second he opened his mouth how hard being honest really was…

Inuyasha cracked his jaw open again (still unsure of anything but the need to continue), but froze at the heated voices rising from below. As they slowly became louder, he could distinguish some meaning from the bellows-and some measure of his confidence returned. It was good to know at least one thing was going according to plan-Akiko was giving that damn jijii a proper miniature hell, but had followed his orders to leave him alive.

Now for the task at hand…

* * *

"You think it's safe to stay at the shrine with her like that? I mean, she knows we knew about it doesn't she? Once she's done with Jii-chan, w-what's to keep her from coming after us?!"

Souta gazed imploringly at his mother, in mild hysterics just considering what Akiko might do to them if she knew of their involvement with the sutra. He could hear the fight well enough even from the bottom of the shrine steps-where his mother had (conveniently) chosen to sweep and he had (conveniently) decided to join her-and he trembled at the thought of being on the receiving end of that kind of artillery.

Mrs. Higurashi smiled an assurance. "Don't worry about it Souta, she knows you tried to prevent it, and she'd never really do anything to harm you or I to begin with. The only one in any danger right now is Jii-chan, and I think she'll keep herself from doing anything too serious to him. He is her father after all."

Souta's mind refused to be comforted so easily-and so it darted to another possible source of harm. "Inu-no-niichan isn't going to be happy about this either-what's to keep him from tearing us apart, huh?"

Mrs.Higurashi chuckled; she couldn't help it: the idea of Souta fearing his hero was too absurd for words, and the idea of Inuyasha physically harming them even more so.

"Souta, I think you need to calm down. Inuyasha isn't going to hurt anyone, and even if he did try, Kagome would stop him."

"Not if she was mad too! You can't say she isn't scary when she's mad!"

"Well, your sister does have a temper, I'll grant you…But she is also very compassionate; she couldn't hurt anyone _that_ badly. And besides, you keep forgetting who they would be mad at; Jii-chan, not you."

Souta's lips trembled. "You, you sure about that? You sure no one's going to try and come after me because I didn't manage to get the sutra off?"

"Absolutely. Now hold the dustpan so I can sweep up this pile." Mrs.Higurashi's comforting, firm tone ended the discussion, and managed to assuage most of Souta's fears.

For some reason though, the two still chose to spend the rest of the day outside of the home.

* * *

Inuyasha opened his mouth. He moved his lips. He looked her in the eye-or as much as he could from their respective positions-and silently cursed himself. Here he sat, so close, here she lay, so very close, no meddlesome monks or annoying kitsunes or embarrassing runts to worry about, and he was being a coward. A complete and utter coward. He growled lightly, disgusted with himself. He'd spat death in the face more times than he could count, but here he froze, too scared to even talk straight to some delicate human. Fortunately-or unfortunately-Kagome broke the silence once she heard the growl.

She'd been too lost in recollection to hear the apology; and it took her a disturbingly short amount of time to jump to her own conclusions for his arrival…

Burying her head once again in the pillow, she mumbled: "So you came back because you're mad at me for being weak, right? And because you hate it when I cry…and for crying over something so silly…"

Inuyasha stared at her, then back at the sutra-pasted-door, then back at her again. Akiko said it didn't work…But then, why would she be thinking something so stupid? _Oh_ _wait,_ he reminded himself. _Because she's an idiot_. Fortunately, her words had done the trick for his voice; he could speak again. It never crossed his mind that she hadn't heard his first words.

"Kagome no baka…I came back because I shouldn't have left in the first place."

"Huh? But, wait, whaa-?" With an answer so vague, what was she supposed to say?

"I thought that…I thought that I had to leave, to help you, and I was wrong-" Inuyasha stumbled, not all too eager to share his reasons; knowing his luck, she'd probably sit him or leave him for good. Or both.

Kagome cut him off, very confused. "Inuyasha…How on earth would your leaving help me? I don't understand, I thought that you'd, well, wanted to talk to me…and when you acted hesitant, I thought that you didn't _want_ to talk at all, that my aunt had made you…And when you left, I, I, I thought I was right. Why do you think I cried when you left?!"

Inuyasha caught the sob hidden between her words, and panicked, forgetting his fears and blurting out what came to mind first; fortunately, it was the truth.

"You were acting strange, and I thought it was the sutra on your door making you do that, and I left because I thought I needed to get rid of it." He tried to keep it short; no need to blow it out of proportion, right? He wished.

"Wait…You knew about the sutra and didn't say anything? Inuyasha! Why do you think I kept trying to make you stay?! And how exactly was I acting 'strange'?!" Kagome had finally raised her head off of the pillow, turning it to glare at him sitting on the bed beside her.

He mumbled something, looking away as he blushed violently.

"Inuyasha…" she threatened, sitting up further, turning more of her towards him.

He knew that tone, and the sit almost guaranteed if he didn't comply, but that didn't mean he rolled over easy.

Barely speaking a decibel louder, and looking pointedly at pretty much anything other than her, he murmured: "I thought you'd think I stuck it on if you noticed it…I didn't know you knew it was there…I thought it was making you…making you…"

"Making me what Inuyasha? Spit it out!"

She leaned closer to him, the anger flashing in her eyes. He'd put her through all of that by mistake, and he wasn't even going to explain it to her?! There was no way she could stand for that!

"I thought the sutra was working, dammit!-"

Inuyasha couldn't take it anymore; he exploded, jerking his face around to look her in the eye-but without his noticing, she'd come so close-her face was mere inches, no, centimeters away from his as he turned-he was bursting with frustration of almost every kind-and didn't notice the changes till it was too late.

Before either knew what had happened, Inuyasha's lips were mashed against hers in a _completely _accidentalkiss.

They meant to pull back immediately-they really did-but something kept them there. Something froze them, the argument forgotten, the other inhabitants of the house forgotten, even the sutra forgotten. There was only the two of them, wide-eyed, staring straight at one another, afraid to take a risk and make the first move.

Without thinking, Inuyasha licked his lips; he was nervous, and they always tended to dry out when that happened; and somehow the part of him in charge of such actions had failed to take Kagome's rather intriguing position into account. Or perhaps that was exactly what it had in mind.

Kagome gasped at the feel of his tongue-and he at the feel of her lips moving against his-and then they were lost in each other, the paralysis from before completely forgotten.

Their eyes, opened wide in shock only moments before, closed. Their necks, stiff and still like those of marble busts, now moved. Their hands, before frozen and tensed, relaxed and stroked and cradled and clung…

And abruptly stopped at the ungodly screech from below their feet. Just as quickly as they'd found themselves in the position, they found themselves out of it, wincing at the sound and retreating into the comfort of the other's embrace. In the silence that followed, the din from below was clear to the ears, human and dog alike.

Kagome looked up at Inuyasha questioningly; she might recognize the voices, but the words were lost to her.

"Your aunt's giving the ji-jii hell for the sutra." Inuyasha explained shortly. (His ears were still ringing with the abrasive echoes of the chair's painful drag across the tiles.)

Nodding her understanding, Kagome looked away, thinking of the kiss that now hung taught between them, firmly present, but forbidden from discussion by some silent, mutual agreement. _It was an accident, after all…_she thought with not a little regret.

Casting her mind about for _something_ to crack the unnatural, awkward silence that had crystallized between them, she remembered what they'd been saying only moments before…And her head snapped back up at him, her eyes wide.

"Inuyasha," she breathed, "When you say you thought the sutra was working…You don't mean that I was acting like, like…like I was trying to…s-seduce you, do you?"

Miserably, he nodded.

Realizing after a moment that she wouldn't let him get away with so little, he grunted: "You led me to the bed, and closed the door, and grabbed my hand…and you smelled nervous, but excited…," he paused, his blush devouring his entire face, then swung his head back to look her straight in the eye; she was taken aback at the intense look he gave her.

"Shit, I know I was being an effing idiot, just sit me or leave me or whatever the hell you're gonna do already and get it over with. I can't take this goddamn waiting."

She cocked her head at him, puzzled; he tried to contain the part of him remarking on just how cute and inviting that looked.

"Why would I do that? It's not like it was your fault…" she blushed, her consternation not enough to cover her embarrassment to be discussing such a thing with Inuyasha of all people. Somehow, she couldn't even convince herself that talking about it with Miroku would be worse.

Inuyasha winced at her compassion; it dawned on him how little she really understood. Akiko's mantra of honesty resurged in his mind…And it wasn't like him to let something like this fester to begin with. He was not a liar or a pervert, to hide his sins in hopes of earning more. He was loathe to let her go now, but it wasn't like he deserved it after what he'd (god's be damned) almost done.

"Kagome…" he murmured as he disentangled her limbs from his and slowly, grudgingly pushed her away.

"It _was_ my goddamn fault…I thought that because I wanted to think it, idiot. And worse than that, I almost didn't stop you…I…wanted…you to do it. With me. Even right then. Shit, if that sutra _had_ been working…I left when I finally got a hold of myself so I could get rid of that sutra."

He breathed slowly, closing his eyes so he'd miss the revulsion he was sure would mar her lovely face. Friend, she might be-but his innocent little Kagome rested fragilely in his mind, a maiden to the last; and he could never imagine anything but shock and disgust from her at such admissions.

After a moment, he had gathered the strength to continue-if not to open his eyes. He still wanted to remember her face as it had been last, cocked to one side in adorable puzzlement.

"So go ahead. Leave me. It's not like I don't effing deserve it…" he rasped.

Kagome's mouth dropped in surprise at his admission. _He really does want me…He wanted me enough to think that? And now he's killing himself for what __he__ thinks of as taking advantage of me? Maybe…maybe…_Kagome dared to hope, dared to dream. She decided to take some advice as well: 'Go for it!'

Shyly, she leaned forward and murmured: "I'm not going anywhere, Inuyasha…"

Even his ears perked up, as startled as the rest of him, and she took the opportunity before her courage failed her to press her lips gently against his.

Inuyasha stared at her, eyes wide in shock. She couldn't actually mean this…she was just trying to make him feel better before she left…Or trying to distract him so that he wouldn't be able to stop her when she did leave. He tensed and glared at her, convinced that this was just another tease of fate.

Kagome felt the heat of his anger rising, and with a barely audible whimper of despair and longing she pulled away, missing his instinctive wince (her eyes were shut tight). He was angry at her…for what exactly, she didn't dare to think, but it was clear that she'd misunderstood something along the way. He made it perfectly clear that he wanted nothing to do with her in _that_ respect. She was hurt, deeply, and to prevent further wounds, she retreated behind her favorite shield: anger.

"So…it was just lust then; you never wanted me in any other way…And you only feel guilty because you knew it was no more than that…Well guess what Inuyasha? I'm sick of this, sick of never knowing what you think, or what you really mean; I'm sick of the mixed signals and contradictions-just tell me what you think of me! I won't break into a thousand pieces if it isn't good, so don't pity me either! That's the last thing I want from you-"

"You stupid bitch…"

He didn't miss the way her eyes sparked at the word, but goddamnit she'd hurt him too with her own words, and he almost didn't care so long as she heard him out.

"Haven't you heard a goddamn word I've said?! Hell, I just _told_ you I wanted you! You're the one who's handing out the pity, not me!"

"What are you talking about?! I kissed you because I thought you wanted me too, not because I pitied you! You're the one who started it, kissing me in the first place-I guess that was just an accident after all, and your lust or pity or whatever just took over-I can't believe I actually let myself hope that you _meant_ it-"

Inuyasha missed the rest of her tirade as a few things finally dawned on him. One: she wasn't going to sit and/or leave him-if she was, she would have done it long before. Two: she was crazy enough to not be disgusted that he wanted her. Three: she had kissed him, not because she pitied him, but because _she_ had wanted _him_.

Four: He hadn't kissed her back.

_I am the biggest eff__ing asshole…_he growled to himself. But that was as far as he allowed himself to get. There were more important things than punishing himself, after all. Like actually _fixing_ what he'd screwed up.

By some miracle Kagome did want him, wouldn't leave him, and he'd be damned if he hurt her again because of his own idiocies.

"Kagome…it wasn't pity. I didn't...kiss back for something else-I did mean it then-I _do_ mean it-shit, I suck with words, just let me show you?" he pleaded, and took her shocked silence as a yes.

Holding his breath, he gripped her arms, pulled her hard against him and crashed his lips down onto hers.

It only took a moment for her to process what was happening; and when it did...swiftly her instincts kicked in, and she couldn't suppress the giggle that bubbled up within her at his approving (and relieved) growl.

Kagome's lingering loneliness melted away at the onslaught of feelingsandsensations and_ Kami only knows what else_ that now assailed her. The feel of Inuyasha's lips pressed against hers so passionately, of his strong arms enfolding her so firmly, his large hands holding her so tenderly; the rushof his hot breath sweeping over her face and neck and shoulders; the sensations the musky piney smell of his haori intensified evoked; the thoughtsandemotionsthe equally wild and delicious taste of him brought; the overwhelming feeling of being desired, cherished, protected, chosen…

Inuyasha's apprehension had evaporated completely, seared away with the passion the cooperative touch of her lips brought. Confidently, he claimed her waist with one hand, bringing her closer, angling his head down farther to further dominate the contact. Swiftly, he brought his other hand to cup the side of her face, a thumb tenderly stroking the tearstains away. Assuredly, he nipped at her bottom lip, and entered her mouth with his tongue when she opened hers in reflex. Inuyasha did not fear that he would lose her by his actions as he had before. Nor did he fear any form of rejection-the joy in her scent sang through every pore of his being. Inuyasha feared nothing.

* * *

"Well fine, if you don't believe me, why don't you go see for yourself!" Akiko barked, voice harsh from abuse, mind reeling with frustration and anger.

"Why don't you come as well-I'm sure you'll be in for quite a surprise!" Ji-chan insisted; it seemed the only way to bring the girl to her senses; really, where did his children and grandchildren get that stubbornness from?

"Oh really? Just you watch!"

Exchanging similarly mature points to prove their respective arguments, they marched up the stairs to Kagome's bedroom, fists clenched and eyes livid.

* * *

Inuyasha growled in pleasure as Kagome greedily clutched at his kosode, pulling him ever closer, unwilling to let him move away for even an instant. Only too happy to oblige, he let her drag him down farther and farther, and took the opportunity to press her closer, relishing the feel of her pliable form molding against his. To counter her softness, he felt himself harden more with each new sensation, from the feather-light brush of her fingers against his chest to the blazing heat released with each panting breath, and slowly seeping from between her legs; his growl dropped an octave, rumbling through both of their frames.

Without really thinking about it (there wasn't much thinking going on in general), they sinuously intertwined their bodies and limbs further so that her creamy thighs straddled his waist-and he found himself wishing ardently that his own lower half was more bare. Her need building similarly with each passing moment, she rocked against him; moans of pleasure escaped them both. Desire ricocheted between the two, drowning out all awareness of the outside world. Even Inuyasha missed the stomp of feet on the stairs, the squeak as the knob on the door turned.

Slamming open the door in her rage, Akiko was met by the rather contradictory-and undesired-view of her patients quite clearly getting along just fine, happy as could be. Thinking quickly, she sealed a hand over her father's mouth-wouldn't want him _really_ ruining it all by interrupting with his disapproval-and dragged him away as quickly as they'd come.

The damage was done however. Even in their self-inebriated states, the couple couldn't miss the smack of the door on the wall as it was forcefully swung open, and Kagome moaned (in a very different way) when she caught a glimpse of her shocked and affronted Jii-chan's face through the closing door.

Realizing that the moment had been lost, the couple separated-more or less. They readjusted their positions so that Kagome rested comfortably in the circle of his (slightly) loosened embrace; still sitting on his lap, but now with both legs primly together, perpendicular to his; small hands still clinging to his kosode, but for comfort rather than desire; face now buried into his shoulder seeking to hide her blush, rather than hungrily devouring his throat.

After a few minutes' deep breaths, she calmed down enough to look up.

"Maybe the sutra did work after all…" she mused, darting a glance up at him with sparkling eyes.

Entranced, it took a moment for him to respond; first he leaned down for a long, sweet, drugging kiss-that somehow left her dizzy and aching and joyful and content all at once-then pulled back, to rumble:

"Keh. Like I need some stupid sutra."

* * *

**A/N: **Please don't hate me. Please, please, please don't hate me…I know, I know, I'm really late. Really, REALLY late. In my defense I list the following: APs. Concerts. Projects. Shows. Auditions. Finals. The SAT. Writer's block throughout. Learning to drive stick throughout. Computer issues (which is partly why I had to delete this when I tried to post it earlier). And even more I can't remember at the moment.

So yeah. Not entirely my fault people! Cowers as forms showing willingly given consent/desire to participate in aforementioned activities are presented.

Please! I made it extra long, just as an apology! You weren't even supposed to get the last half or so, but I stuck it in anyway! Just for you! ducks behind concrete wall as a few bombs are thrown her way

Fine! Hate me! You take on my schedule sometime and see how well you do though…I snicker in anticipation…Anyway….

Thanks go to phlawere for looking over a particular scene (and subsequently finally toppling that last stubborn hanyou block-can't stop thanking her for that), Kenju for the ideas (good motivation, I'm sorry I didn't use them here), and pretty much anyone else with the patience to stick with me…I'm sorry if there's some specific someone else I've forgotten, I've been trying to get this stupid chapter out so long…

Hope you liked it anyway, despite its lateness.


	9. Chapter 9

**Ch 9 I'm Listening**

* * *

"What on earth do you think you're doing Dad?" Akiko asked, with some slight alarm at the huge crate of sutras Jii-chan had pulled out.

He gave her a look that clearly displayed his shock and disapproval of her ignorance. "What else? I'm going to go defend my granddaughter's honor of course!"

Akiko raised an eyebrow, but knew her father too well to be truly surprised.

"Her honor. Right. And what exactly are you defending it from? The effects of your first sutra?"

He spluttered in angry denial.

"I know, I know, 'the sutra's effect was to bring them together spiritually, not physically,' but honestly, with the way they reacted to it, do you expect them to go so far in so short a span of time? They need time to adjust to all of this; that's probably their second, maybe even first kiss ever! Do you really think they'd just start having sex immediately?"

It seemed that there were no words to even begin to explain his fury; the spluttering continued, now accompanied by an increasingly reddened face. After about a minute of Akiko's dry, slightly bemused stare and raised eyebrow, he managed a trembling, shaking gesticulation at the ceiling.

Akiko rolled her eyes. "Yes, what we saw just now I call kissing, nothing more. I know it was a bit much for you, but I'm happy for them; they've endured suffering and grief most people can only imagine, they deserve some happiness I think." Akiko's look was firm, commanding, as she attempted to send the message to her overexcitable father that she was not going to let him interfere any more.

Seeing that he was still of a mind to march up and 'save' his granddaughter from the 'evil, lustful demon' in all his priestly might, she added: "Don't you think your _granddaughter_ at least deserves to be happy? If something made her happy that was not harming her, and rather good for her, in short and long term, wouldn't you _stay out of it_?" The last few words were uttered with clenched teeth and furrowed, threatening brows.

He held her gaze for at least three minutes straight, neither blinking, neither backing down.

* * *

"Well Souta, it's been quiet for a while; why don't we go back, ne?" Mrs. Higurashi smiled kindly at her son.

"I-I guess..." He was still somewhat shaken by events, still somewhat fearful of the infamous ire of the house's occupants.

"Come on, I'll make lunch. How does teriyaki chicken sound?"

Souta paused, thinking it over. It didn't take long.

"Ok, let's go! It's not like they can be still fighting now, right?" His hunger had won out; it was half past 1, after all.

* * *

The staring contest was abruptly broken as a bustling Mama Higurashi and eager Souta entered the room, chatting about lunch.

"Onee-chan, where have you been?" Akiko asked with not a little relief. She'd never admit it, but Jii-chan had been on the brink of winning the impromtu staring contest.

"Oh, just sweeping the steps with Souta. What have you been up to?"

"The usual; damage control, after a certain _someone_ decided to add his own mumbo-jumbo and ended up ruining everything I'd worked so hard to achieve..." She sent a pointed look at Jii-chan, effectively preventing him from stealing away to add more 'helpful' sutras to Kagome's poor bedroom door.

"Weren't you able to do anything for them?" Mrs. Higurashi asked with a worried frown as she began cooking the chicken.

"Well, wouldn't you know it, I managed to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat yet again." Akiko answered smugly, her face glowing with its smirk.

"So you were able to help them after all?" Mrs. Higurashi's whole face lit up with hope, just as her daughter's could.

"Of course I was." The smirk only grew.

Jii-chan had been on the verge of making his escape (Akiko now distracted by her ego), but his own ego couldn't take her getting all the credit.

"Impudent girl. It was my sutra that brought them together, mark my words!"

Mrs. Higurashi knew better than to argue with him, as Akiko seemed raring to do; she avoided the confrontation tactfully by saying: "Well, if you were able to help them Jii-chan, why are you leaving with those sutras? Isn't your work over?"

Akiko frowned, but said nothing, waiting for his response. She was willing to sacrifice her ego if it meant an end to the old man's antics.

"Well...You see...I underestimated the power of my own sutra...and, and..."

"When we went to check in on them they were snogging like there was no tomorrow." Akiko took mercy on him.

"That's wonderful!" Mrs. Higurashi exclaimed, clapping her hands together in delight. "Here, Jii-chan, let me take out that new jug of sake for you to celebrate!"

Flustered by the attention, but pleased all the same, it only took a few sips for Jii-chan to forget his intentions entirely. He was so absorbed in his preening, he didn't even notice the room's collective sigh of relief.

* * *

"Oi, do you smell that?" His hushed voice woke her from the happy doze she'd engaged in after their interruption.

Kagome slowly lifted her head from his lap, and sniffed delicately.

She smiled a little. "Seems Mama decided to make teriyaki chicken for lunch. You want some?"

"Keh. In a little bit. For once I'm hungrier for something else." He ran his claws tenderly through her hair.

She lay her head down again, facing upwards. The look in his eyes...it made her breath catch in her throat.

"W-what's that?" she managed to gasp.

"What kind of stupid question is that? You of course."

He lowered his head, took her lips, half-lidded eyes watching her ever second, every achingly slow and drunken second...

"Ewww! Akiko-chan was right! I can't believe you're actually kissing like that!" Souta squealed from the cracked door.

_It's funny how fast one little thing like can break your reverie, no matter how deep it is,_ Kagome mused later.

For that moment however, musings were not exactly options. Pummeling, shredding, screaming abuse...those were more appropriate.

"Souta! I am going to kill you, you know that?! Get back here you little twerp! I'm not helping you with your romance problems ever again, you hear me? Ever again! If you say even a _word_ to Mama about this-"

Inuyasha watched in bemused silence as the delightfully soft and sweet girl of a moment before turned fierce, screaming Amazon, racing after her brother with murderous intent. As for himself, he was still too pleased with events to care much; it wasn't like her family wasn't going to find out sooner or later, and he preferred sooner. They'd already given their approval, hadn't they?

Sighing, he got off the bed, grabbed his haori from the floor where it had flown from Kagome's speeding frame, put it back on, and padded away, following the delicious odor of Higurashi cooking.

Might as well eat, seeing as he wasn't going to be tasting her lips for a while.

* * *

"So tell me, really, how did you manage to turn it around for them?" Mrs. Higurashi asked in a hushed whisper of her sister.

"Honestly? I just told him that the sutra wasn't real and told him to be honest about it all. He did the rest himself." Akiko answered in kind; sure, there was plenty of noise to cover the discussion up from Mama Higurashi's cooking and Akiko's setting the table, but you couldn't be too careful with a father as conniving as theirs, even when he was blissfully drunk with sake.

"Really? That's all? Then it seems he's either learned something from your discussion, or he had it in him all along or-well, whatever the reason, I'm happy for them." Mrs. Higurashi chuckled in relief.

Akiko smiled back at her. "Me too...It's funny, these two have to be some of my most difficult patients, but they were also the quickest to understand my message..."

"Well, it makes a difference when you live lives like theirs, so intense every moment; they're used to having to adapt to huge changes that come at the blink of an eye." Mrs. Higurashi gestured with the chopsticks she used to arrange the chicken slices on the plate.

"I suppose...But if they do start having problems again, call me, ne? It probably won't be as bad, but every relationship has issues, and it's not like I actually fixed them; I just gave them a different way of viewing them..." Akiko nibbled on her lower lip in apprehension, grabbing the cups from the cabinet.

"Doubting your success already? I'm still impressed that you did so well with Inuyasha-kun; I know he's not exactly in the age group you're used to." Mrs. Higurashi added slices of cucumber in a circle around the chicken.

"Huh? What do you mean by that? Aren't they both teenagers?" Akiko asked, perplexed, pausing as she set the chopsticks next to each place at the table.

"Didn't you know? I mean, for a hanyou Inuyasha-kun is still fairly young, but in our years he told me he was about 200 or so. That's right, isn't it, Inuyasha-kun?" she added the last bit with another smile as the (slightly disheveled, but fully clothed) young man sat down at the table.

"Hmm? Oh, yeah, something like that. Don't really remember exactly...When's the food going to be ready?"

He raised an eyebrow at Akiko's stunned face (forgetting how she'd last seen him), but said nothing more, focusing entirely on the food as Mama Higurashi laid it on the table. He didn't wait to dig in.

"B-but you act and look like a teenager..about the same age as Kagome..." Akiko protested weakly.

"Well, I was stuck to a tree for fifty years, if that makes a difference. If you don't count that, it's more like 150." He managed to explain between bites, though it was clear his attention was elsewhere.

Mrs. Higurashi took advantage of Akiko's momentary lapse of cognition to ask after her daughter.

The boy shrugged, and gave a casual, noncommittal explanation: "She's off chasing her brother around the Goshinboku. Said something about killing him. Don't think she's serious though."

"Ah. I wondered at the screams." _It seems his fears were justified after all..._she thought to herself.

Akiko had to sit down. It was all too much...her niece and nephew running and raving like lunatics about the family's pride, a holy tree; a patient who acted the complete teenager who was actually older than her by more than a century; her father, now tipsy as anything, sifting through his sutras with alarming determination...

Her niece, now complete in her mission to drag her brother about half the yard, waltzing in, blushing at the 200yr old youth vacuuming up lunch and smirking at the same time, and in yet another fit of righteous fury, seizing the entire crate of sutras and defenestrating them, glaring all the while at her inebriated Jii-chan, daring him to interfere...then sticking her nose in the air as the poor old man lunged for the papers, staggering after them as the wind danced them just out of reach.

Finally ready to eat (having accomplished, more or less, all her necessary acts of revenge), Kagome primly drew back a chair next to her hanyou and set to fighting him for the meager remainder of the food.

Mrs. Higurashi, noticing the shock on her sister's face, sat down beside her, a familiar comforting smile gracing her features.

"Here Akiko-chan, have some of the cucumbers before they're all gone, I bet you'll like them..."

Shaking her head, and ignoring (or perhaps not hearing) the suggestion, Akiko managed to splutter: "Is it always like this? How do you deal with it?"

Mrs. Higurashi laughed. "I don't really worry about it all that much. When things go well, I just accept them and thank Kami for it; don't question what doesn't do any harm, ne?"

Akiko managed to crack a smile. "I suppose..."

Akiko cast her eyes about the room, from the grumbling but swiftly eating Souta, to the whimpering but well-meaning Jii-chan, and focussed on the happily bickering couple. Inuyasha had the last piece of chicken in his chopsticks, and was holding it high above Kagome's head, taunting her, chuckling like a maniac at her adorable pout and flailing limbs (and smirking and ogling not a little her now jiggling and bouncing form).

"And things are going well, aren't they?"

After a few minutes of failed attempts, Kagome's eyes acquired a devilish glint, and, lunging for his ears, she caught the hanyou off guard; in a moment he had dropped the chicken onto her waiting plate, and she snapped it up at once, smiling her own mischievous smirk as well.

Mrs. Higurashi, finally looking away from their antics, smiled as well (though more sweetly, and less like a smug child with a stolen sweet).

"Yes. Things are going better than they have in a long, long time...since my husband died, I think," Higurashi-san trailed off.

Akiko raised an eyebrow in expectation.

"I'm listening..."

* * *

**A/N:** I'm terrible with endings, you know that? Simply terrible. But here it is anyway. There will be an epilogue set in the feudal era, for all that are interested, but it will be short and for humor more than anything else.

For any interested in more of my writing, I have more stories coming out soon enough:

**Waiting**; this is my own version of what happens when the well closes and Inuyasha is forced to bear through the centuries. There will be much depression, history, psychology, romance, and a few dashes of humor throughout, with a delicious ending. Rated M for language, some violence, possible lemon. Not sure on that yet.

**  
The Mailman Blues**; this is a fic I am writing in collaboration with phlawere, under our collective profile of maniacalaughter on this site. It is a romantic comedy, of course. Of epic proportions. This is the delightful summary we've cooked up (mostly written by her):

Seven guys. One girl. Friends and family who are out to get them. A wolf in the past _and_ the present? What's a hanyou and a miko to do? This is the testimony of the lonely mailman who witnessed it all...

I am also planning a murder mystery AU, but I have not come up with an appropriately awesome title yet.

So...check them out!

And now that I'm done debasing myself with this shameless pandering and advertising...

Hope you liked **I'm Listening**


	10. Chapter 10

**Epilogue**

* * *

"So, how did you do it?" Miroku leaned toward Inuyasha, his voice dropped to a conspiratorial whisper.

"Do what?" the baffled hanyou replied.

He glanced about the scenery, in search of the subject of his friend's interrogation; clear skies, dry dirt road, forest on one side, field on the other, the girls walking just out of earshot ahead, giggling about something or other, the demons on their shoulders…nothing strange there…

"You know exactly what I mean, don't try and deny it!" Miroku hissed, insulted already that his friend should have managed so much better than himself, and doubly so that Inuyasha wouldn't even share some tips.

"No. I. Don't. So tell me what the hell you want to know before you really piss me off!" _It was annoying enough to get away from under the lecher's nose last night when we got back; does he have to torture me with this idiocy too?_

Miroku sighed in exasperation. _Only Inuyasha could be this stubborn._ Good thing he was resourceful. "You will tell me what you did or said to Kagome-sama to bring you two together sooner or later Inuyasha. Don't make me forget myself and mention your presence last time the girls bathed-"

Inuyasha's eyes bugged out, and an enraged and surprised growl split the air. "The hell? _I _wasn't anywhere near them, hentai!-"

"_They_ don't know that…and do you really want to risk that they'll believe me over you?" Miroku pointed out smoothly.

Petulant silence. The hanyou glared at him with a new variety of intensity.

"So, will you tell me or won't you?" Miroku kept the smug smile from his lips, but only with great effort. He knew he'd won.

"Keh! Why do you want to know, anyway?" the hanyou grumbled. He wasn't going down without something of a fight.

"I'm wondering if it wasn't a fluke after all; and surely you could not be so dense as to not realize that I would like to reciprocate your results with my Sango?" Miroku asked dryly.

"Bastard…" the hanyou growled, but Miroku's calculated insult was just the jibe to push him to confess. "I was honest. I told her I cared."

Miroku restrained the urge to roll his eyes. "I assumed that was in there somewhere, but don't pretend that's all you did; I've told Sango that more times than I can count-"

"That's because you're a damn lecher and you tell every woman that-it's not like she believes you." Inuyasha pointed out with his trademark gift for sugar-coating the truth.

"Inuyasha, that wasn't the point; what else happened while you were in Kagome's time? Did you try a romantic walk under the stars? Did you finally get the nerve to grope her? Did you show how you cared by asking her to bear your child?" Miroku explained, reaching for the first examples and ideas that came to mind.

"Bouzou, that's what _you_ do." It was the hanyou's turn to have the urge to roll his eyes. His manners being what they were, (more or less nonexistent,) he didn't restrain it.

"That still doesn't change my question! What did you do to convince Kagome-sama to believe you, despite your history with Kikyou-sama?" Miroku gave him an exasperated glare that could not be denied.

Inuyasha winced at the name, and was startled to realize he hadn't said anything about it at all. "I think her aunt said something to her about it…she wouldn't tell me what _they_ talked about though…"

"Her aunt?" the houshi back-pedaled for a moment; but only for a moment. "Wait-she spoke with you too? Is she the one responsible for this change?"

"Well…yeah, I guess. She's a saikorogitsu," the hanyou stated proudly. _Ha! Who's the dense one now?_ He smirked at the monk's confused look. "In Kagome's time, saikorogitsu's are people who help others with mental problems. Like the idiots that are scared of spiders," the hanyou helpfully supplied.

"So you're saying that you and Kagome were on the verge of insanity and she's fixed that?" Miroku's face was the model of a concerned friend.

"Teme…you know what I meant…" the hanyou growled, good mood gone entirely.

"Gomen, Inuyasha, I just couldn't resist. But wait…if Kagome's aunt is the one that helped you…but she can't cross through the well...does this mean Sango and I are doomed?" The monk visibly paled at the thought.

"Well…yeah, I guess...she's kind of busy helping Kagome's okaa-san with something or other anyway...but it wasn't just her; we had luck too…and Kagome's Ji-jii slapped a fertility sutra on her bedroom door-" Inuyasha felt some pity for his friend's plight. He had experience with doomed relationships. They weren't fun.

His comments did just the trick. Miroku's eyes lit up in an instant, and a singularly lascivious leer broke upon his face. "A fertility sutra, did you say? And to think I let Kaede-sama get away with burning my last one-I can always make another though-and no time like the present!"

"Oi, don't go getting any ideas, it almost ruined _everything_-" the hanyou spluttered, trying to live up to his oath to destroy them all on sight.

It was too late. Miroku had already leapt away, not listening to a word Inuyasha said, fishing about in his robes urgently for a spare scrap of paper and his bottle of ink.

* * *

Later that night: "Oh Saangoooo!"

"Shouldn't we do something about that?" Kagome murmured from Inuyasha's embrace, watching with some concern as the monk chased the tajiya about the campfire and into the surrounding trees.

Inuyasha thought back to his oath. His honor should be jabbing him with a sharp stick by now, should have the second he saw the houshi whip out the little piece of paper and lunge for the slayer. It hadn't though.

Even watching Miroku finally corner Sango from far off, her frenzied yells of "Hentai!" breaking through the night along with the sound of a ringing slap didn't get the slightest twitch from his conscience.

He looked down to the miko cuddled in his lap. Her eyes were half shut, her limbs boneless as they molded with his, the firelight gleaming something lovely in her hair…Yes, Kagome might have something to do with his current paralysis…

He took a long sniff from her hair. Oohh…she smelled so…good…His eyes slid shut of their own accord, as he lost himself to her all over again.

"Nah…maybe they'll be…as lucky…as us…sutra's aren't all bad...you know…" the hanyou rumbled sleepily.

"I suppose not," she giggled in response. She leaned up to give his jaw a chaste kiss, then burrowed back even deeper into his hold.

He smiled contentedly, kissing her hair in return, then pulled her all the further into his lap.

The settled back against the trunk of the tree in silent agreement. Their friends would be fine, and with a little luck, maybe get to share this taste of bliss. They had worked hard and gotten over their own issues, and now they...deserved the chance…to snugly rest…in each other's arms...

* * *

**A/N**: Awwww…Can I make it any more sappy than that? A rhetorical question, I firmly point out! I do not want to know the answer! I'm about to gag as is!

Thanks to all who read, faved, reviewed, and generally gave this fic a chance! I know it's better in some parts than others (this was my second one after all, and the first chapter length one I've ever finished), and the updates were rather sparse, but I really enjoyed writing this, and I've loved hearing your thoughts on it.

So, thank you! It's been a real pleasure!

Hope you liked it.


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